Laura Lippman to Chat WILDE LAKE Novel at The Music Hall's 'Writers in the Loft'

The Music Hall's Writers in the Loft series will present the New York Times bestselling author and award-winning crime writer Laura Lippman with her latest novel WILDE LAKE, which explores the frailty of memory and how life and circumstance can create villains where heroes once stood.

The 7pm event includes an author presentation and moderated Q+A, plus book signing and meet-and-greet. It will be held at the Music Hall Loft at 131 Congress Street, in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

What happens when we're forced to look closely at the myths and stories that shape our families? In WILDE LAKE, the bestselling author After I'm Gone, I'd Know You Anywhere, and What the Dead Know, challenges our notions of memory, loyalty, responsibility, and justice in an evocative and psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family.

Dawn Heffron, the organizer of The Music Hall Book Club, will be the evening's guest moderator. Said Heffron, "WILDE LAKE is realistic and chillingly restrained. In the fashion of To Kill a Mockingbird, it will make you question your sense of tolerance and justice. I'm looking forward to talking with the author, and I hope many others will join in the discussion -- it's a great book club book!"

ABOUT THE BOOK: Luisa "Lu" Brant is the newly elected -- and first female -- state's attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It's not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard County doesn't see many homicides.

As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small but tight-knit family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man's life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?

The more she learns about the case, the more questions arise. What does it mean to be a man or woman of one's times? Why do we ask our heroes of the past to conform to the present's standards? Is that fair? Is it right? Propelled into the past, she discovers that the legal system, the bedrock of her entire life, does not have all the answers. Lu realizes that even if she could learn the whole truth, she probably wouldn't want to.

LAURA LIPPMAN was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about "accidental PI" Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar , the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor's Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association. Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade. After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Md., Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her other newspaper jobs included the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Light. Ms. Lippman returned to Baltimore in 1989 and has lived there since.

The ticket package for Writers in the Loft: Laura Lippman on Tuesday, June 14 at 7pm is $41. In addition to a reserved seat, the package includes a copy of WILDE LAKE ($26.99, hardcover), a bar beverage, and book signing meet-and-greet. Packages can be purchased through The Music Hall Box Office, located at 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, over the phone at 603.436.2400, or online at www.themusichall.org. Call the box office for specially-priced $36 ticket packages for members of the The Music Hall Book Club and Music Hall members at the Contributor Level ($150) and up.

Akin to The Music Hall's anchor literary series, Writers on a New England Stage, Writers in the Loft features bestselling authors in a smaller, more intimate space. The series brings audiences today's top authors, the best of fiction and nonfiction, and award-winners across categories. The evening package includes a reserved seat and bar beverage, author presentation and Q+A, a copy of the book, and a meet-and-greet book signing with the featured writer.

The Music Hall Book Club is a benefit for members at our Contributor level and above. This club meets the second Monday of the month in the lounge at The Residences at Portwalk Place in downtown Portsmouth from 6-7:30pm. Our discussions begin with socializing followed by a moderated discussion. Our fantastic moderator comes prepared but encourages the conversation to go in any direction the group prefers. There is no requirement to participate in the discussion, so if you'd rather just come by to mingle and listen you are always welcome!

Dawn Heffron is a downtown Portsmouth resident and strong supporter of The Music Hall. Her background is in Special Education and teaching the hearing impaired. When asked about her favorite book, Dawn cited A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith as one of her all-time favorite novels "I love the main character, Francie; her resilience in the face of adversity, her honesty, and of course, her love of reading and books!" As for being the moderator of The Music Hall Book Club, "I couldn't have chosen a more insightful, erudite group of people!" she says. "They enjoy reading as much as I do and they are forthright in sharing their contributions about the book selections, which makes for interesting and thought-provoking discussions."

The Music Hall is a performing arts center featuring curated entertainment from around the world in two theaters in its downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire campus - one, a landmark 1878 Victorian theater, designated an American Treasure for the Arts by the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures Program, the other the intimate Music Hall Loft around the corner, recently named "best performing arts venue" by Yankee Magazine and the recipient of the NH AIA award for design excellence.

With acclaimed signature series including Writers on a New England Stage - a partnership between The Music Hall and New Hampshire Public Radio - and the Intimately Yours music series, we bring top authors and artists to both stages. Also, HD broadcasts from The Metropolitan Opera and the National Theatre of London as well as extraordinary cinema fill both screens almost every night of the year.

This dynamic arts center urges patrons to Explore + Learn via master classes, post-film panel discussions, and matinees for children. An anchor organization in this historic working seaport, The Music Hall is one of downtown Portsmouth's biggest employers and largest contributors to the regional economy: The Music Hall and its patrons contribute $7.1 million annually to the local economy through show and visitor related spending.

Innovative in its outlook, the organization is community oriented and committed to making the Seacoast flourish. The Music Hall is a 501(c)3 nonprofit managed by a professional staff with the assistance of a volunteer board. Though global in the scope of its artists and programs, The Music Hall operates independently with the support of 3,000 members, 300 corporate partners and 58 community partner organizations. Welcoming more than 100,000 patrons (including 20,000 children) each year from the tri-state area and beyond, The Music Hall is the region's center for the performing arts, literature and education...easy to get to, impossible to forget.

For more, visit www.TheMusicHall.org, or follow on Twitter: @MusicHall, Facebook: /musichall and YouTube: /musichallnh.

Pictured: Laura Lippman. Photo by Lesley Unruh.

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