On this week's episode, Megan interviews modern noir superstar Laura Lippman, whose latest standalone novel, Lady in the Lake, is inspired by two real-life crimes committed in 1960s Baltimore: the unsolved drowning of 35-year-old Shirley Parker and the murder of 11-year-old Esther Lebowitz. They talk opening sentences, the transgressive nature of watching, Lippman's recent Washington Post piece ("Is it ok for white authors to write black characters? I'm trying."), and more. Then our editors offer their weekly reading recommendations, with books by Blair Thornburgh, Cassandra Clare et al, Jeff Gordinier, and Linda Holmes.
