Pay Dirt, the 22nd book by Sara Paretsky to feature Chicago private investigator V.I. “Vic” Warshawski, was published in April 2024.
Our Sleuth: Victoria Iphigenia — aka V.I. or “Vic” — Warshawski, is now in her 50s, a one-time Chicago public defender turned long-time private investigator. She’s still tough, smart, and fighting tooth-and-nail for social justice.
The Setting: We’re in Lawrence, Kansas, for this installment, the town where author Paretsky grew up. It’s a big change from the urban grittiness of Chicago’s South Side, V.I.’s usual haunt, but it’s also interesting to watch her go to work without all her usual connections and community knowledge.
The Premise: V.I. is still reeling from a tough last case when she agrees to drive to Kansas to watch her beloved goddaughter’s friend play in a high-profile basketball game. When one of the girls in the group goes missing the morning they’re supposed to go back to Chicago, V.I. reluctantly agrees to try to find her — and stumbles over another young woman’s body in the course of her investigation.
My Take: As I noted in my post about My GOAT Female Sleuths … So Far There’s Four, I’ve been a V.I. Warshawski fan from her first appearance in Indemnity Only in 1982. She was one of the first women in crime fiction to be neither a victim nor a vamp; instead, she’s physically and mentally tough, determined in her pursuit of justice, and unafraid to take on any foe. Over the course of the 22 books, she’s become entangled in international conspiracies, faced down more than one mafia goon, and grown into fictional fame as a nationally known PI.
Perhaps that’s why, for me, much of the fun of this latest book is that V.I. is out of her element, trying to push an investigation forward in unfamiliar territory. She’s also incredibly vulnerable in this one, trying to decide whether to stay in the PI business and unable to reach her lover who’s working in another country. If you’re familiar with the series, you know V.I. will somehow triumph in the end — the joy is in watching this now middle-aged, emotionally battered woman piece it all together on her wits alone.
Opening Lines:
Gunshot. When you hear it, you know it’s not a backfire, not an M-80. Sprint up the stairs. Peter shoves past me into the room. I grab his arm. “You can’t go in there blind. You don’t know who’s shooting, who they’re shooting at.”
He shoves me aside and plunges into the room.
A second shot, a third. Screams. I follow him in.
Heads Up: I classify this as traditional mystery. Yes, there’s violence on the page, but it’s neither particularly gratuitous nor dwelt upon.
Etc.: Paretsky’s work has been nominated for or won virtually every mystery-writing award out there. She is one of four living writers to earn both the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers and Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America, according to her bio. She also founded Sisters in Crime, which advocates for female mystery writers.
FemaleSleuths.com 