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
"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 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. Warshawski is back--intelligent, tough, sarcastic and trouble-prone as ever....Body Work isn't just a satisfying whodunnit; it's a rich, well-written why-dunnit, striking some surprising chords that will resonate long after you finish the final page."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch Chicago's Club Gouge attracts an eclectic audience, from bohemian types to Ukranian mobsters to young men just back from the war. And tonight, V.I. Warshawski is in the crowd too. The edgy stage show stars The Body Artist, who invites audience members to draw on her naked flesh. But things get a lot edgier when a woman sketches a picture on the Body Artist--and one of the veterans flies into a drunken rage. Next thing V.I. knows, she's cradling the woman's dying body in an alley, and a PTSD-stricken soldier is presumed guilty. But he's also comatose after a drug overdose, and the mystery of what exactly set him off--and what kinds of shady activities are really happening at Club Gouge--will lead V.I. to a truth as explosive as the IEDs that lurk on the roadsides of Iraq.
Bonus in this Edition: A Short Story Featuring V.I. Warshawski
About the Author
Sara Paretsky is the author of sixteen books, including her renowned V. I. Warshawski novels. Her many awards include the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers' Association. She lives in Chicago.