The Girl in the Green Raincoat: A Tess Monaghan Novel    by Laura Lippman Order:  USA  Can Avon, 2011 (2011) Softcover, e-Book Read an Excerpt      Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth The Girl in the Green Raincoat, a Tess Monaghan novella by Laura Lippman, is a real treat. The reader finds Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan in her third trimester. She realizes that she must accept bed rest until delivery. Thinking she can pull a Nero Wolfe, Tess coaxes her best friend Whitney to play Archie and do her leg work. Tess has watched a young woman in a green raincoat walk an Italian Greyhound wearing a matching green doggy coat every day. One day, reclining on a deck chair set up on her apartment balcony and making good use of a pair of binoculars, she spies the dog running by itself, its leash dragging behind it. One thing leads to another and Whitney and Tess dig into the woman's background. They discover frightening details. She has gone missing. The green raincoat's husband comes under suspicion as his first wife was murdered. His girlfriend and also his second wife are no longer on this earth. Makes one kind of look at him with a speculative glance. Whitney and Tess continue investigating, much to the distress of Tess's fiancé. The action increases as the story rushes to a very satisfactory ending. Lippman has been awarded every major prize in crime fiction. And she deserves every one. Keep writing, Laura. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews