Synopses & Reviews
Dennis Lehane meets Smillas Sense of Snow: a big discovery in the world of female suspense, about an edgy young woman with the rare ability to withstand extreme conditions Elisabeth Elos debut novel introduces Pirio Kasparov, a Boston-bred tough-talking girl with an acerbic wit and a moral compass that points due north.
When the fishing boat Pirio is on is rammed by a freighter, she finds herself abandoned in the North Atlantic. Somehow, she survives nearly four hours in the water before being rescued by the Coast Guard. But the boats owner and her professional fisherman friend, Ned, is not so lucky.
Compelled to look after Noah, the son of the late Ned and her alcoholic prep school friend, Thomasina, Pirio cant shake the lurking suspicion that the boats sinkingand Neds deathwas no accident. Its a suspicion seconded by her deeply cynical, autocratic Russian father, who tells her that nothing is ever what it seems. Then the navy reaches out to her to participate in research on human survival in dangerously cold temperatures.
With the help of a curious journalist named Russell Parnell, Pirio begins unraveling a lethal plot involving the glacial whaling grounds off Baffin Island. In a narrow inlet in the arctic tundra, Pirio confronts her ultimate challenge: to trust herself.
A gripping literary thriller, North of Boston combines the atmospheric chills of Jussi Adler-Olsen with the gritty mystery of Laura Lippman. And Pirio Kasparov is a gutsy, compellingly damaged heroine with many adventures ahead.
Review
"… superb… This strong outing shows why the tough, fiercely independent, dog-loving private detective continues to survive."
Publisher's Weekly Starred Review
"Edgy… It's good to see Warshawskithat can-do, no-nonsense gal who barged into the man-world of fictional gumshoes in 1982still saving the innocent."
St. Louis Beacon
"A new V.I. Warshawski novel is always a cause for celebration… Paretsky's the queen of the hard-boiled for good reasons. Her characters are ordinary people. Her dialogue is pitch perfect… The story revolves around bulliespersonal, sexual and corporate onesand Warshawski is smart enough to know bullies can be beaten."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"The Fourteenth entry in the V.I. Warshawski series finds the smart-mouthed Chicago PI approaching 50 but unafraid of mixing it up with some thuggish Ukrainian mobsters… V.I. proves as persistent as ever in a case that ranges from the edgy urban nightclub scene to the corporate interests making a fortune from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, as always, the city of Chicago, from its gentrified lofts to its working-class bars, is given a starring role. Another solid entry in a popular series."
Booklist
"Paretsky plays out her trademark political and social themes not with rhetoric but with a compelling story of lives shattered by pride, greed and fear of the unknown."
Kirkus Review
Review
Praise for Sara Paretsky BREAKDOWN
“Riveting…Warshawski once again proves a dogged champion for the truth at any cost.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Both Paretsky and she sharp-tongued justice-seeker, V.I. Warshawski, remain formidable in the masterfully suspenseful fifteenth novel in this superb and adored Chicago-set series. … V.I. reigns as crime fictions spiky, headstrong warrior woman of conscience, and Paretsky, classy champion of the powerless, has never been more imaginative, rueful, transfixing, and righteous.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Plotted with all Paretskys customary generosity, this standout entry harnesses her heroines righteous anger to some richly deserving targets, all linked together in a truly amazing finale.”— Kirkus (starred review)
“What really matters in a Sara Paretsky mystery are the crimes behind the crimes ¬- the corrupt politics, the class divisions, the economic inequities, the dirty business practices and all the other injustices that incite the wicked deeds we love to read about. Breakdown takes its first crack at a soft target: a cult series of lurid vampire novels that sends a group of impressionable pre-teenage girls into a graveyard to perform a giddy initiation ritual for their book club. But once V.I. Warshawski, the intrepid private eye who sees herself as “a street fighter, a product of the mills and ethnic wars of Chicagos Steel City,” has rescued the girls from the trauma of discovering the murder victim, the true villains come into sharper focus.”—Marilyn Stasio,The New York Times
“One of the many pleasures of Sara Paretskys V.I. Warshawski novels is that the sharp-tongued, short-tempered detective often seems to be following clues that lead not just to the heart of whatever mystery is at hand, but also into the red-hot center of the zeitgeist itself… the dialogue is sharp, the satire of politics and media intuitions downrightbiting, and the descriptions hilarious.”— L.A. Times
Review
"I wish I had a friend like Pirio Kasparov—intelligent, loyal, brave, and funny. From the opening pages of
North of Boston I was enthralled and deeply committed to following Pirio wherever her brilliant author decided to send her next. What a terrific novel."
—Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy
Synopsis
The audacious new V. I. Warshawski novel from the New York Times-bestselling author.
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 later, the woman is shot outside the club. She dies in V.I.'s arms, and the police move quickly to arrest the angry vet.
A shooting in Chicago is nothing new, certainly not to V.I., who is hired by the vet's family to clear his name. As V.I. seeks answers, her investigation will take her from the North Side of Chicago to the far reaches of the Gulf War.
Synopsis
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. Days later, the woman is shot outside the club and dies in V.I.'s arms. As V.I. seeks answers, her investigation will take her from the North Side of Chicago to the far reaches of the Gulf War.
Synopsis
The audacious new V. I. Warshawski novel from the New York Times-bestselling author"Doctors take days off--why not PIs?" V.I. Warshawski demands. But when America's hardest-working private eye goes clubbing, a stranger is shot and dies in her arms.
V.I. has been visiting Club Gouge, Chicago's edgiest nightspot, where a woman known as the Body Artist turns her naked body into a canvas for the audience to paint on.
The show attracts all kinds of people, from a menacing off-duty cop to Ukrainian mobsters and Iraq war vets--and V.I.'s impetuous cousin, Petra. A tormented young painter shows up, too, and the intricate designs she creates on the Body Artist drives on of the vets into a violent rage.
When the painter is shot, the cops figure it's an easy collar--PTSD vet goes off the rails, stalks then kills young woman. But the vet's family hires V.I. to clear his name, and the detective uncovers a chain of ugly truths that stretch all the way from Iraq to Chicago's South Side.
Synopsis
The last thing V.I. Warshawski was expecting when she showed up at Chicago's Club Gouge was that she'd wind up cradling a dying performance artist in an alley. A PTSD-stricken soldier is presumed guilty of the murder, but it's up to V.I. to find out what kinds of shady activities are really happening at Club Gouge...
Synopsis
V.I. Warshawskis closest friend in Chicago is the Viennese-born doctor Lotty Herschel, who lost most of her family in the Holocaust. Lotty escaped to London in 1939 on the Kindertransport with a childhood playmate, Kitty Saginor Binder. When Kittys daughter finds her life is in danger, she calls Lotty, who, in turn, summons V.I. to help. The daughters troubles turn out to be just the tip of an iceberg of lies, secrets, and silence, whose origins go back to the mad competition among America, Germany, Japan and England to develop the first atomic bomb. The secrets are old, but the people who continue to guard them today will not let go of them without a fight.
Synopsis
New York Times-bestselling author Sara Paretskys brilliant protagonist V.I. Warshawski returns in another hard-hitting entry, combining razor-sharp plotting and compelling characters with a heady mix of timely political and social themes.
V.I. Warshawski’s closest friend in Chicago is the Viennese-born doctor Lotty Herschel, who lost most of her family in the Holocaust. Lotty escaped to London in 1939 on the Kindertransport with a childhood playmate, Kitty Saginor Binder. When Kitty’s daughter finds her life is in danger, she calls Lotty, who, in turn, summons V.I. to help. The daughter’s troubles turn out to be just the tip of an iceberg of lies, secrets, and silence, whose origins go back to the mad competition among America, Germany, Japan and England to develop the first atomic bomb. The secrets are old, but the people who continue to guard them today will not let go of them without a fight.
Synopsis
"Vic is at her stubborn, reckless, compassionate best in this complicated page-turner about selfish secrets passed down through generations. Paretsky has been on a roll lately, her long-running, trailblazing series at its most dynamic since the early days." Booklist on Critical Mass
New York Times-bestselling author Sara Paretskys brilliant protagonist V.I. Warshawski returns in another hard-hitting entry, combining razor-sharp plotting and compelling characters with a heady mix of timely political and social themes.
V.I. Warshawskis closest friend in Chicago is the Viennese-born doctor Lotty Herschel, who lost most of her family in the Holocaust. Lotty escaped to London in 1939 on the Kindertransport with a childhood playmate, Kitty Saginor Binder. When Kittys daughter finds her life is in danger, she calls Lotty, who, in turn, summons V.I. to help. The daughters troubles turn out to be just the tip of an iceberg of lies, secrets, and silence, whose origins go back to the mad competition among America, Germany, Japan and England to develop the first atomic bomb. The secrets are old, but the people who continue to guard them today will not let go of them without a fight.
About the Author
Sara Paretsky is the author of sixteen books, including her renowned V. I. Warshawski novels, the most recent of which is the New York Times bestseller Hardball. Her many awards include the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers' Association. She lives in Chicago.