Hints of Heloise: Three Stories

by Laura Lippman

Laura Lippman introduced Heloise Lewis, the soccer mom/suburban madam, in "One True Love," a story chosen for Best American Mystery Stories, and fleshed out her back story in "Scratch a Woman," an Edgar-nominated novella. Heloise's complete story is now told for the first time in the scorching novel And When She Was Good, as Heloise tries to reconcile her two selves—the person she is and the mother she wants to be—while trying to stay alive. Hints of Heloise contains the original stories, an excerpt from the novel, and "Form 95," a never-before published story about a man who literally loves her from a distance.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 17, 2012

About the author

Since Laura Lippman’s debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her “special, even extraordinary,” and Gillian Flynn wrote, “She is simply a brilliant novelist.” Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.

Reviews

[Liesa Malik · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an intriguing character Ms. Lippman has created in Heloise! All three stories and the excerpt in this collection follow the life of Heloise Lewis, a prostitute-soccer mom, who digs deeply into the role of today's liberated woman and the challenges that help shape hers and all of our lives. Ms. Lippman is a master of giving enough information that you think you "know" the character, only to add a new layer, a new perspective, a new thought, and the reader has to reconstruct her own view all over again.

I was not thrilled with the excerpt because when I finish a book, I want to be finished with it. Now I know I'm going to have to find and read, "When She Was Good." Shame--NOT!

[Rubigrangea Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh?

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heloise from when she was bad.

A short novella that delves into Heloise’s relationship with her half sister.

They share the same father.

[BookBec · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ebook from my library had only two of the stories (not "Form 95"). Oh well, I'll have to let go of my completist tendencies for this one.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A companion piece to "And When She Was Good," this is a collection of three short stories about soccer mom/suburban madam Heloise Lewis. Two of the stories were previously published so they were re-reads for me (still quite excellent the second time around); the new story is told from the perspective of a police officer (I laughed out loud reading this one :)). All quite good and set the stage for the new novel, which delves into Heloise's story even deeper. Making this an even more enjoyable read was knowing the back story about how this book got published and distributed...Laura Lippman pushed to have a hard copy version that could be given out free by independent book sellers to customers (either to accompany the purchase of the new book or to any customer who wanted one). How cool is that? I can't wait to start the new book now that I've been re-acquainted with Heloise.

[Anna L Conti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three short pieces (fiction) about a single mother with a complicated double life. Released as a companion to the longer novel (When She Was Good) about the same character. Absorbing and funny - it made me want to read the novel. But these works could stand on their own.

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting back stories that go with Laura Lippman's When She Was Good.

[Brendan]

Rating: 3 1/2