What the Dead Know
{{Short description|Crime thriller novel by Laura Lippman}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = What the Dead Know
| image = What the Dead Know.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = Laura Lippman
| country = United States
| language = English
| cover_artist =
| series =
| genre = Crime novel
| publisher = William Morrow
| release_date = March 13, 2007
| media_type = Print (Hardcover)
| pages = 384 pages
| isbn = 0-06-112885-6
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
What the Dead Know is a crime thriller by the American writer Laura Lippman, published in 2007.Laura Lippman, What the Dead Know, William Morrow, 2007. {{ISBN|0-06-112885-6}}, {{ISBN|978-0-06-112885-1}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/laura-lippman/what-the-dead-know/|title=WHAT THE DEAD KNOW | Kirkus Reviews|via=www.kirkusreviews.com}} The story, set in Baltimore in 2005, is about an investigation into a woman who claims to be Heather Bethany, a girl who had gone missing thirty years before. The book was critically acclaimed and it won the 2007 Quill Award in the mystery/suspense/thriller category and 2008 Anthony Award for Best Novel.
Main characters, as first introduced
- The Bethany family: Dave and Miriam (née Toles); 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.Patrick Anderson, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801292.html "A Virtuoso Reappearing Act"] (review of What the Dead Know), Washington Post, March 19, 2007; Page C03.Janet Maslin, [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/books/05masl.html?_r=1&oref=slogin "Maybe She’s Reappeared; Definitely She’s a Mystery"] (review of What the Dead Know), New York Times, April 5, 2007. In the July/August 2007 issue of Bookmarks, the book was scored 4.5 out of 5. The magazine's critical summary reads: "What the Dead Know is a career-defining work from this much lauded author".{{Cite web |title=What the Dead Know By Laura Lippman|url=http://bookmarksmagazine.com/book-review/what-dead-know/laura-lippman|access-date=14 January 2023 |website=Bookmarks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921154850/http://bookmarksmagazine.com/book-review/what-dead-know/laura-lippman|archive-date=21 Sep 2015}}
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.""[http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2125631,00.html What the Dead Know]" (book review), The Guardian, July 14, 2007. Kirkus Reviews praised the novel, noting that "Lippman (To the Power of Three, 2005, etc.) crafts a tale that resonates long after the last page is turned."{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/laura-lippman/what-the-dead-know/|title=WHAT THE DEAD KNOW {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en}} 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."{{Cite news|last=Maslin|first=Janet|date=2007-04-05|title=Maybe She's Reappeared; Definitely She's a Mystery|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/books/05masl.html|access-date=2021-06-08|issn=0362-4331}}