(2012)Good stand alone novel about a madam who is also a mother and suburban single. She must try to hide her real life while managing a lucrative prostitution business for the father of her son who she helps put into prison. Threats exist almost daily that will end her life and may cause his son harm. Former ?employees? who have been ousted from the company want to make her pay for their failure. Comes to a head when the brother and lawyer of her boss confronts her at home as she is trying to break free. Results in his death which she manages to portray as the result of a home invasion she successfully averts. At this point all of the bodies are buried and she can assume a new life.KIRKUS REVIEWLippman (The Most Dangerous Thing, 2011, etc.), who specializes in tales of feckless parents and their luckless kids, puts a madam at the center of her latest dysfunctional family.At first, nothing could be more conventional than the Lewis family saga. Helen's father, already married with two children to his credit, knocks up her mother, Beth, a 19-year-old carhop. He moves in with Beth but hangs around his ex-wife Barbara enough to give Helen a half sister, Meghan, only six months younger. As Beth and Barbara tussle over worthless Hector, he focuses on tormenting Helen, telling her that she has ?a nothing face,? breaking her record albums and forcing her to get a job that interferes with her schoolwork. It's while waitressing at Il Cielo that she meets Billy, the owner's stepson, who lures her to Baltimore with promises of marriage. Instead, he turns her out, making her earn money to feed his drug habit by doing lap dances at a local strip club. That's where she meets Val Deluca, whose red hair matches his fiery temper. Val offers Helen a nice house and a better class of client, all for doing what she's already doing. He also gives her the chance to be something she'd never dreamed of: a mother. That's when Helen's tale goes off the beaten path. Before he learns about Helen's delicate condition, Val is jailed for murder, and Helen reinvents herself as Heloise Lewis, running the business at a level Val had never achieved. She recruits college girls with delicately worded ads for escorts and serves clients who include state legislators, all while presenting herself as a lobbyist for the Women's Full Employment Network. But when another suburban madam turns up dead, Heloise realizes that the safe, comfortable life she's crafted for herself and her beloved son, Scott, in affluent Turner's Grove is at risk.Like Mary Cassatt, Lippman studies families with a different eye than her male contemporaries, showing the heartbreaking complexity of life with those you love.Pub Date: Aug. 14th, 2012ISBN: 978-0-06-170687-5Page count: 320ppPublisher: Morrow/HarperCollinsReview Posted Online: July 31st, 2012Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1st, 2012

Laura Lippman’s “And When She Was Good” is the definitive prostitute/madam novel. Helen/Heloise is such a fully developed character that she literally leaps off the page. Lippman reaches new heights as the book throws off any mystery structure shackles. The hallmark signature Lippman research and detail are in full swing. A suspenseful ending and resolution make this a joyous reading celebration. ( )

I confess I have never read a Laura Lippmann book before, this title was a "recommended if you like" and so when I saw it on sale I bought it.
The story sounded great a prostitute who changes the business but not her profession. The problem was the main character Helen/Heloise/Hel for me was not at all believable. She lacks common sense throughout the book and misses things that for the reader were so obvious. The whole book came off as a Movie made for Lifetime TV.
This is a theory I have, I think when Gillian Flynn became such a hot selling author, many publishers wanted to get in on the act. Get their authors to write edgy books and tell them as Gillian does in both the past and the present. This author is skilled enough to pull off the past and present format, which is not easy to do, unfortunately her characters, wound up be laughable caricatures who were not at all believable. ( )

“It is one of the oddities of life in Maryland that no single supermarket can serve a household’s entire needs.”
― Laura Lippman, And When She Was Good

I am curious as to whether supermarkets in Maryland are really like what this character describes.

“And when she was good” was an interesting pick. I really wasn’t sure what I was getting here.

I was nervous reading this book because I’d been let down by other books similiar to this and was not really sure what to expect. It was on my TBR list for a really long time.

The main character is a paid escort and as such, I was really afraid this book wouldn’t have much of a plot. I was wrong.

Well I actually enjoyed this which is good. Every new book is a gamble but with this one, even though I didn’t adore it, I got drawn in.

The main character was complex. I liked her more and more as the book went on. Her whole past was explained and as you learn more and more about her past, you want to see how she will get out of her current situation. I was pleased this book lived up to and beyond, my expectations.

Some of the book was really harsh and really graphic. I was surprised by the "twist" at the end as I had not guessed that although looking back perhaps I should have as there really were plenty of clues.

This is a more then decent read. I did not adore this but I did find it to be a gritty and provocative read and I would give it 3.5 stars. I would also recommend it to fans of gritty thrillers. ( )

"If forced to pick a label, Heloise will admit to being agnostic. But in her view an agnostic is an atheist who's covering her bets."

A surprisingly entertaining read. I'd read very mixed reviews, so did not know what to expect. I understand why so many have said that they couldn't connect with the book due to not liking the main characters, but sometime's that can make a book all the more interesting. Heloise doesn't fit the stereotypical suburbanite, but she makes a nice change to the rich, unemployed, alcoholic, busybodies usually found in fictional suburbia.

Some aspects did not ring true. Yes, Heloise was a victim of circumstance, yet she'd had the means to escape that life and her poor choices long ago. Nevertheless an enjoyable and thought provoking read. ( )