Lady in the Lake

The Tessie Fine and Cleo Sherwood cases involve elements that remain prominently featured in 2020s news media: public obsession with true crime and issues of race and justice in America. How do you think these cases would be handled, covered, and perceived by law enforcement, journalists, and the public if they were to occur in the 2020s?

Consider Maddie’s conception of romantic love. At the end of the novel, she refers to Ferdie as her “second chance” at real love, despite claiming to have loved both Allan Durst Sr. and Milton. Who was really Maddie’s first love? How does that deliberate but unexplored revelation contribute to Lippman’s construction of Maddie’s character?

Examine how the single chapters narrated by minor characters reinforce the novel’s exploration of perspective as key to one’s reality. Which revelations or discrepancies were most striking? How do these brief yet candid character portraits serve to enrich the cultural and historical context of 1960s Baltimore?

Why do you think Lippman chose not to write first-person character chapters for Milton Schwartz, Seth Schwartz, Ferdie Platt, Ezekiel Taylor, Shell Gordon, and Allan Durst Sr.? What is lost or gained by not hearing from these men in their own words? What do you imagine their chapters would say if they were each to compose one of their own?

Why do you think Violet Wilson Whyte does not remember meeting Cleo? How did Cleo’s interaction with Violet affect Cleo’s world view? What is the significance behind Lippman’s choice of Milton as the person who so wounded Cleo as a little girl?

Examine mother-and-child relationships in the novel, particularly between mothers and their sons: Maddie and Seth, Cleo with Lionel and Theodore, and Angela and Stephen. How do these mothers perceive their sons and their relationships to them? What is expected of them as mothers, and how do they succeed or fail in meeting those standards?

Despite her vocal expression of opinions to the contrary, to what extent does Maddie exude racist attitudes and a willingness to exploit racial inequality in Baltimore at large through her relationship with Ferdie? How does the “forbidden” and covert nature of their arrangement serve as both a source of excitement and a convenient excuse for her?

Why does Maddie pity Milton when she assumes that he will be entering the cycle of marrying and having children all over again? Consider how Maddie’s understanding of the patriarchal system in which she lives both deepens and fails to develop.