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ShareWriter Laura Lippman is closely associated with Baltimore through her Tess Monaghan private-eye series, “ripped-from-The Baltimore Sun-headlines” novels such as “What the Dead Know,” and a sideways connection to HBO’s “The Wire,” but she also has a straight-ahead connection to Texas.
Her new novel, “Another Thing to Fall,” is the 10th in her series about Irish/Jewish reporter-turned-detective Tess and focuses on shady doings on the set of a TV miniseries being filmed in Baltimore.
We talked to her recently.
The opening pages of “Another Thing to Fall” make reference to “nuclear polka” band Brave Combo, a favorite in North Texas. What’s your connection?
Brave Combo actually played at a friend’s wedding in 1982 or ‘83. I was a reporter at Waco, and she was a reporter in Denton. In 1981, when I got out of journalism school, my heart’s desire was to start out at a small paper in New England, but I ended up in Waco, which turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me as a journalist. As a writer, it was important to start out in a place where I was just ignorant about the local history and the culture. It forced me to pay attention. I worked at the Waco paper from ‘81 to ‘83, and the San Antonio Light from ‘83 to ‘89. I adore San Antonio. I essentially spent my 20s in Texas.
“Another Thing to Fall” is centered on a TV series that’s being filmed in Baltimore. You have a pretty close connection to that world. Tell me about it.
I’m married to the executive producer of “The Wire” (David Simon). I think one thing that’s almost universally true about writers is that we’re all really sick when it comes to covetousness about material. We’re not envious about money, but we’re really jealous about writing material. I have some material that’s not unique, but is pretty unusual—to know what TV production is like from the point of view of the boss. Most writers know what TV is like from the point of view of the young writer, but I have a really good omniscient view. A person who was really helpful to me is Laura Schweigman (Simon’s assistant), who was able to fill me in on how the office is organized.
Were you with David when he did “Homicide”?
No. We started dating in the summer of 2000. But we knew each other at The Sun. And I’ve been with him for the entire duration of “The Wire.” I was on vacation with him when he got a call from his agent who said, “If you can get me three scripts and a `bible’ by Labor Day, we might be able to get this on the air.” We turned around.
Did you have any actress in mind when you created the character of Selene?
I know that other people project certain actresses on her, and I just accept that. I understood that if I was going to write about actors and actresses that people would say, “That’s so and so,” but I don’t know anyone who’s exactly like her. I know people will say that she’s Lindsay Lohan, Johnny’s Luke Perry and Derek is Mark Wahlberg. But ... I work every day, Monday through Friday and sometimes on weekends. The whole fun of it is that I get to be this little god and flesh them out as I see fit.
One of my favorite writers is Donald Westlake, and I went to a writers conference and heard him say one of the reasons he become a novelist is so that he could make it up. As someone who bridged fiction and journalism for seven years, that was a revelation.
In “Another Thing to Fall,” Tess teaches a class on how to be a detective, and three of the students in the class are would-be mystery writers. Did you attend a class on how to be a detective when you started writing crime stories?
No. What I did do years ago, when I was starting to write, I signed up for a writing class at Johns Hopkins, but I quickly dropped it. In the ‘80s, I used to drive from San Anonio to Austin for a writers workshop that was led by Sandra Cisneros. It was great, but only in hindsight did I realize how amazing that was.
I understand you made an appearance on an episode of “The Wire.” What was that like?
I played a reporter named Lippman and I had one line, which was, “Hey, I’m not the police reporter.” I was on set for eight hours. It only took about half an hour to do three takes of our scene, but I was in the background for other shots.
The local newspaper singled me out as being particularly awful. The New York Times was kinder, and the actors were so kind to me. I don’t think they were being obsequious because I’m married to the boss; I think they respected me because I was trying to do what they were doing. A young actor came up to me and said I did good, and then he patted me on the arm. He said, “Oh my God, you work out don’t you?” I’ve had few prouder moments than having this actor assess the firmness of my biceps.
My husband and I are both journalists, and we—well me, mostly—have found it best for us not to work too closely together. Do you and your husband feel any competitiveness, any jealousy over who’s more famous?
Gosh, I hope not. I repeatedly declined offers to write for “The Wire.” I thought that that would probably not be a good thing on so many levels. It would be difficult for other people to be honest about my work, and I thought it would be difficult for me to be rewritten by him—and everything goes through him because ultimately he’s the voice of the show.
When David and I began dating, we were both in the middle of pretty established careers. One of the things I would be crazy to be jealous about is that he gets far more attention. He works in television and the numbers are just much bigger. For a book to sell a million is a huge thing. For a TV show to get just a million would be a disaster.
Who works harder—newspaper reporters, novelists or TV writers?
An executive producer, a show runner, works harder than anyone I’ve ever met. Then newspaper reporters. A novelist is so far behind—they’re hopping, they’re skipping. Our lives are really cushy. I write three to four hours a day, and then I’m done. There might be e-mail I have to catch up on, but I’m not going to kid myself—it’s a really nice life. And don’t let me even get started on novelists who complain about book tours.
