Synopses & Reviews
V. I. Warshawski may have left her old South Chicago neighborhood, but she learns that she cannot escape it. When V. I. takes over coaching duties of the girls' basketball team at her former high school, she faces an ill-equipped, ragtag group of gangbangers, fundamentalists, and teenage moms, who inevitably draw the detective into their family woes.
Through young Josie Dorrado, V. I. meets the girl's mother, who voices her worries about sabotage in the little flag manufacturing plant where she works. The biggest employer on the South Side, discount-store behemoth By-Smart, pays even less, and Ms. Dorrado doesn't know how she'll support her four children if the flag plant shuts down.
The elder Dorrado's fears are realized when the plant explodes; V. I. is injured and the owner is killed. As V. I. begins to investigate, she finds herself confronting the Bysen family, who own the By-Smart company. Founder William "Buffalo Bill" Bysen, now in his eighties, has four sons who quarrel with each other and with him; the oldest, "Young Mr. William," is close to sixty and furious that his father doesn't cede more power to him. And then, there's "Billy the Kid," Young Mr. William's nineteen-year-old son, whose Christian idealism puts him on a collision course with his father, his grandfather, and the company as a whole.
When Billy runs away with Josie Dorrado, V. I. is squeezed between the needs of two very different families. As she tries to find the errant teenagers, and to track down a particularly cruel murderer, her own life is almost forfeit in the swamps that lie under the city of Chicago.
Review
"[O]ne of [her] best....Paretsky has never been better than she is here at evoking a sense of place....Nothing seems forced as Paretsky plays socioeconomic realities against a universal story of passion and jealousy..." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Curl up with the newest V.I. Warshawski adventure...and welcome back an old friend for a tumultuous summer visit. Sara Paretsky has fashioned another gripping chapter in the ongoing adventures of the Chicago private investigator..." Chicago Sun Times
Review
"Fire Sale is the 12th outing for Sara Paretsky's intrepid and sharp-tongued private eye, and while V.I. Warshawski may be older and even wiser, she's lost none of her trademark wit or moral indignation..." Chicago Tribune
Review
"In Fire Sale, as in her past three books, Paretsky shows increasing mastery of the mystery as a vehicle for social criticism....While the plot relies a little too heavily on coincidence, it moves well." Boston Globe
Review
"[A] moving and multilayered novel that is an improvement over Sara Paretsky's last few, sluggish efforts....Or maybe it's the plot that has more energy single and stubborn V.I. has always been able to handle herself." Cleveland Plain Dealer
Synopsis
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Takes off with a bang--literally...V. I. remains a paragon among PIs, and Fire Sale is one of Paretsky's best books yet."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A conscience can weigh a PI down more than the heaviest firearm--and get her into more trouble too. It's that nagging conscience that makes V. I. Warshawski agree to fill in as coach for the girls' basketball team at her South Chicago alma mater--which in turn leads her to the headquarters of By-Smart, the global retail empire where V. I. hopes to get some desperately needed funds for the struggling squad.
But conscience seems to be in short supply at By-Smart...with the exception of Billy Bysen, the earnest teenage grandson of the chain's gruff, tightfisted founder. And when Billy disappears--along with a mysterious document much desired by By-Smart's management team--V. I. is hurled onto a twisted, body-strewn path that runs through Chicago's dirtiest places and reveals some of its dirtiest secrets...
Synopsis
A conscience can weigh a PI down more than the heaviest firearm—and get her into more trouble too. It’s that nagging conscience that makes V. I. Warshawski agree to fill in as coach for the girls’ basketball team at her South Chicago alma mater—which in turn leads her to the headquarters of By-Smart, the global retail empire where V. I. hopes to get some desperately needed funds for the struggling squad. But conscience seems to be in short supply at By-Smart… with the exception of Billy Bysen, the earnest teenage grandson of the chain’s gruff, tightfisted founder. And when Billy disappears—along with a mysterious document much desired by By-Smart’s management team—V. I. is hurled onto a twisted, body-strewn path that runs through Chicago’s dirtiest places and reveals some of its dirtiest secrets.…
About the Author
Sara Paretsky is the author of twelve previous books, including ten V. I. Warshawski novels. She is the winner of many awards, including the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers' Association.