Sara Paretsky

"Chicago may be the city of broad shoulders, but its political law is "Pay to Play." Money changes hands in the middle of the night, and by morning, buildings and parks are replaced by billion-dollar projects. Chicago PI V.I. Warshawski gets pulled into one of these clandestine deals through her impetuous goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard. Bernie tries to rescue Lydia Zamir, a famed singer-songwriter now living on the streets; Zamir's life fell apart when...

The enigmatic performer known as the Body Artist takes the stage at Chicago's Club Gouge and allows her audience to use her naked body as a canvas for their impromptu illustrations. V. I. Warshawski watches as people step forward, some meek, some bold, to make their mark. The evening takes a strange turn when one woman's sketch triggers a violent outburst from a man at a nearby table. Quickly subdued, the man-an Iraqi war vet-leaves the club. Days...

The Schapen family have made it their mission to keep track of their neighbors' misdeeds and dirty secrets and print them on their family web site, and when Gina Haring, a Wiccan, moves into town and start practicing pagan rites, the Schapens take it upon themselves to run her out of town.

He came from out of the blue -- a man with an astonishing story of a childhood shattered by the Holocaust, and it's a story that has devastating consequences for V.I. Warshawski's cherished friend, Dr. Lotty Herschel, too. For now, the past that Lotty has struggled to forget has come back to haunt her, flooding her with memories that could destroy her life. And for V.I., who's already working on a case for a poor family cheated out of their life insurance,...

V.I. Warshawski, “undoubtedly one of the best-written characters in mystery fiction” (The Baltimore Sun), returns in a collection of stories that bring new meaning to “ties that bind.” Decked out in her silk shirts and no-nonsense Attitude, V.I. is out to make a living—by the skin of her teeth.
In “Grace Notes,” V.I. has barely finished her morning coffee when...