What the Dead Know


What the Dead Know is a crime thriller by the American writer Laura Lippman, published in 2007. Set in Baltimore in 2005, the novel follows an investigation into a woman who claims to be Heather Bethany, a girl who disappeared thirty years prior. The book received critical acclaim and won the 2007 Quill Award in the mystery/suspense/thriller category, as well as the 2008 Anthony Award for Best Novel.

Main characters, as first introduced

  • The Bethany family: Dave and Miriam ; daughters Heather and Sunny
  • Penelope Jackson – registered owner of a car in a highway accident
  • Detective Kevin Infante – lead investigator
  • Harold Lenhardt – Infante's sergeant
  • Gloria Bustamante – lawyer
  • Nancy Porter – police researcher and Infante's former police partner
  • Kay Sullivan – social worker at St. Agnes Hospital; children Seth and Grace
  • Dr. Schumeier – psychiatrist at St. Agnes Hospital
  • Chester "Chet" V. Willoughby IV – retired detective
  • Stan Dunham – former Pennsylvania property owner
  • Irene – a foster mother
  • Tony Dunham – man killed in a Florida house fire
  • Roy Pincharelli – music teacher
  • Joe – art gallery owner
  • Javier – art gallery employee
  • Jeff and Thelma Baumgarten – couple in fidelity crisis
  • Ruth Leibig – Ohio school girl
  • Estelle and Herb Turner – practitioners of Fivefold Path spirituality
  • Priscilla "Syl" Browne – employee at "Swiss Colony" restaurant

    Critical reception

Reviewers saw What the Dead Know as a success both as a well-crafted mystery and as an emotionally powerful novel.
The Guardian described the novel as a "realistic and poignant detailing of emotional hide-and-seek,... an excellent mystery and a thoughtful exploration of the nature and effects of grief and loss." Kirkus Reviews praised the novel, noting that "Lippman crafts a tale that resonates long after the last page is turned." Janet Maslin of The [New York Times] praised What the Dead Know as "an uncommonly clever imposter story", "three-dimensional", and worthy of reading a second time — "You read it once just to move breathlessly toward the finale. Then you revisit it to marvel at how well Ms. Lippman pulled the wool over your eyes."