Is Lady in the Lake based on a true story? Explained

A still from Lady in the Lake (Image via Apple TV+)

Apple TV’s latest drama series, Lady in the Lake, premiered with two episodes on July 19, 2024. The official synopsis of the series reads:

“When the disappearance of a young girl grips the city of Baltimore in 1966, the lives of two women converge on a fatal collision course.”

Created by Alma Har'el, Lady in the Lake marks Natalie Portman’s first appearance on the TV screen. The series is based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Laura Lippman.

Lady is the Lake is a work of fiction. However, the two murders that are the central plot elements in the series are loosely based on two real-life murders that happened in Baltimore in 1969.

In the series, Portman plays Maddie Schwartz, a Jewish housewife who eventually leaves her unhappy marriage to pursue her journalistic ambitions. This aspect of the character can partially be traced back to Lippman’s own life, who herself was a reporter for The Baltimore Sun.

Lady in the Lake is fictional but loosely based on real events

Episode 1 of Lady in the Lake shows the disappearance of Tessie Durst, a young Jewish girl. By episode 2, her dead body is discovered by Maddie. This murder of a young girl is loosely based on a real event.

In 1969, an 11-year-old girl, Esther Lebowitz, went missing in Baltimore. Various newspapers covered the case. Lippman was only ten years old during this time.

In the same year, a black woman named Shirley Lee Parker was found dead after she had gone missing for months. Her body was spotted in the fountain of a lake and was found only after a citizen complained to the authorities that the lights were off in the fountain for quite some time.

The disappearance and murder of the little girl, Tessie Durst, in Lady in the Lake is loosely based on the real-life case of Esther Lebowitz. By the end of episode 2, Cleo Sherwood (Moses Ingram) loses her life to a group of gunmen. This murder is loosely based on the case of Shirley Parker.

However, Lady in the Lake is mostly fictional, and the resemblances to real-life events are not strong enough to suggest that the series is entirely based on true stories. In an interview given to NPR that was published on July 25, 2019, author Laura Lippman said,

“Once I've decided that a real-life crime is going to be my inspiration, I do no more research about it. Because I don't really want to know about that crime.”

She continued,

“I've been drawn to it because of some sort of thematic possibility. ... It's like, this is the story I want to tell, so I can't be weighed down by what's true.”

Portman’s character in the series, Maddie Schwartz, has journalistic aspirations, and she becomes obsessed with investigating the murders of Tessie and Cleo. Given the fact that Lippman herself was a journalist for a time, one wonders if the character is based on her own story.

On July 24, 2019, The Washington Post published an interview with the author where she stated that as much as she identified with Maddie, the latter is the person she feared becoming since Maddie is too focused on her investigation to take heed of anything else.

In Lady in the Lake, Lippman takes certain creative liberties to alter the events she takes inspiration from. For instance, in real life, the young girl’s and the black woman’s murders were not related. In the book and the series, they are.

Furthermore, the real-life events happened in 1969. Lippman sets the story in 1966. However, by taking inspiration from real events, the series explores the sexism and racism of the time. For instance, a traditional housewife like Maddie is not given the freedom to pursue a career and the black woman’s murder does not get as much media coverage as a white child’s does.

Lady in the Lake: Plot and cast

Lady in the Lake primarily revolves around two women. Maddie Schwartz is a traditional Jewish housewife reeling under an unhappy marriage, and harboring her journalistic ambitions. Cleo Sherwood is a black woman who works multiple jobs and tries to prevent her son from entering the world of crime.

In episodes 1 and 2 of Lady in the Lake, Maddie has left her husband and son and rented a room in a predominantly black area, and Cleo’s struggles become harder and harder as a black woman in a time rife with racism.

The cast of the series includes: