Sara Paretsky

V I Warshawski is a private investigator who in this book is working outside her usual field of expertise for a family friend. On a daily basis she exhausts herself beyond endurance, flirts with death, irritates both friends and enemies (and she has plenty of the latter) as she tries to bring the Big Shots - the corrupt Big Shots - to justice. Like Warshawski, I rapidly became exhausted by it all. I only picked this book up from the 36 Bus exchange shelf (brilliant idea, that) because I had nothing else to read at that moment. One book from the series is quite enough, thank you, even though it is in fact well and intelligently written.… (lisätietoja)

Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky is recommended for die hard fans of the long running series featuring Chicago PI V.I. Warshawski.

Friends of V .I. Warshawski send her to Lawrence, KS to recharge and relax while enjoying a weekend of college basketball. Angela, one of her protégées, is playing. After Angela's housemate Sabrina goes missing, V.I. agrees to help in the search for the young woman. V.I. faces plenty of local suspicion but no local support in her search. When Sabrina is finally found suffering from an O.D., V.I. gets her to the hospital. Then the FBI gets involved and question V.I. about her kidnapping the girl and a murder.

This 22nd outing of the P.I. is full of the expected twists and turns in an intricate, complicated plot. Warshawski is an intelligent, tough, tenacious, and insightful main character who does not give up even when everything is seemingly against her. The investigative part of the narrative is interesting and will hold the attention of most readers.

Looking back over the years to the novels much earlier in the series, I can recall great pleasure reading each new V. I. Warshawski novel. That has started to lessen with recent novels and I believe the series and I are sadly going to go our separate ways now for several reasons. Again, Paretsky makes sure Kansas is depicted as a backward place (getting tired of this habitual plot element). Present day Lawrence, KS, doesn't remotely resemble the city she portrays in the novel. Additionally my fluid rule that authors need to keep their editorializing on personal social/political views on contemporary topics to themselves as it is divisive and diminishes the novel applies. Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/04/pay-dirt.html… (lisätietoja)

3.5 stars (rating shown may depend on review site).

I've read some of this series but am not sure I've read all of them. It's been a while since I've read one as it took me a while to remember how V.I. ended up with Peppy and Mitch (dogs).

You wouldn't think that a young girl, a rehab/nursing home, a Jewish Synagogue, a contractor, and V.I.'s childhood neighbors would all connect, but somehow, Sara Paretsky makes it work.

This book is set during the Covid 19 pandemic (I'm not sure exactly when. Sometime after the shutdown but before nursing homes started allowing visitors again), which brought back some not so pleasant memories.

I wish we had learned what happened to Gisella and how her story turned out.… (lisätietoja)

Rain had turned the streets a shiny black. It coated windshields with a film that cut visibility to inches, and turned potholes into lakes that trapped unwary drivers. All month, Chicago had been hit by storms that put as much as three inches of water on the ground in an hour; but left the air as thick and heavy as a wet parka. Tonight's storm was one of the worst of the summer. I'd come up empty in.all the likely spots, bus stops, coffee shops, even the sleaziest nightclubs that might not card a bunch of tweens. I was about to give up when I saw lights flashing in the cemetery to my right. I pulled over and rolled down my window. Above the rumble of rain on my rooftop I could hear high-pitched chatter and bursts of nervous laughter.… (lisätietoja)