Sara Paretsky

Private investigator V.I. Warshawski probes the world of abused women, runaway children and the homeless to find a killer. In the process she uncovers a financial fraud with links to Chicago banks and the university, forcing her to take on the city's establishment. By the author of Guardian Angel.

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...

For V.I., the journey begins with a national conference in downtown Chicago, where angry protesters are calling for the recovery of Holocaust assets. Replayed on the evening news is the scene of a slight man who has stood up at the conference to tell an astonishing story of a childhood shattered by the Holocaust -- a story that has devastating consequences for V.I.'s cherished friend and mentor, Lotty Herschel. Lotty was a girl of nine when she emigrated...

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...

Someone knocking on the door at 3 A.M. is never good news. For V.I. Warshawski, the bad news arrives in the form of her wacky, unwelcome aunt Elena. The fire that has just burned down a sleazy SRO hotel has brought Elena to V.I.'s doorstep. Uncovering an arsonist--and the secrets hidden behind Elena's boozy smile--will send V.I. into the seedy world of Chicago's homeless ... into the Windy City's backroom deals and bedroom politics, where new schemers...

"Meeting an anonymous client late on a sizzling summer night is asking for trouble. But trouble is Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski's specialty. Her client says he's the prominent banker, John Thayer. Turns out he's not. He says his son's girlfriend, Anita Hill, is missing. Turns out that's not her real name. V.I.'s search turns up someone soon enough-the real John Thayer's son, and he's dead. Who's V.I.'s client? Why has she been set up and sent...

“The best of the Warshawski novels!”—Los Angeles Times Book Review
 
Underneath V. I. Warshawski’s wisecracking P.I. exterior lies a real pushover. When elderly neighbor Mr. Contreras asks her to look into a fellow union retiree’s sudden disappearance, she says “yes” from her heart, not her head. And when a crotchety eighty-year-old dog owner starts wrangling with a Yuppie-Come-Lately...

A conscience can weigh a PI down more than the heaviest firearm--and get her into more trouble. 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...

Carmilla, Queen of the Night, is a shape-shifting raven whose fictional exploits thrill tween girls all over the world. When Chicago's Carmilla Club holds an initiation ritual in an abandoned cemetery, they stumble on an actual corpse, murdered vampire-style. The girls include daughters of some of Chicago's most powerful families. And for V.I. Warshawski, the questions multiply faster than the answers.

P.I.V.I. takes on a case from an old client to check on possible intruders into an empty family mansion.a sinister case.