Murder of Tessie Fine

The murder of eleven-year-old Tessie Fine is the crime that fractures the quiet surface of 1960s Baltimore and sets Maddie Schwartz on a new path. Unlike the disappearance of Cleo Sherwood, which goes virtually unnoticed, Tessie's death is met with immediate and widespread attention. The girl's disappearance is noted almost right away, a fact that does not escape the notice of Cleo, who bitterly observes the disparity from beyond the grave. Tessie's case becomes the city's obsession, a story that Baltimore is "aflame" with, and it provides Maddie with her first taste of the morbid fascination that will come to define her new life.