Sara Paretsky

Book Page: V.I. Warshawski returns for her 22nd adventure in Sara Paretsky’s latest mystery, Pay Dirt. In this installment, the PI is not in her usual digs in Chicago, but rather in Lawrence, Kansas. That will not keep her out of trouble, though; she manages to find that pretty much anywhere. This time it’s in the form of Sabrina Granev, a teenage soccer player barely clinging to life after being found in a drug house, and a second woman who was not so lucky—found dead in the same house a few days later. The mystery explores financial greed; closely held family businesses; the mutual back-scratching of corporate interests, politicians, law enforcement officials and jurists; and a bunch of ripped-from-the-headlines points of contention: critical race theory (and ongoing racism in general), the specter of reparations, conspiracy theories, “wokeness” and more. And of course there are a couple of murders, and if the bad guys have their way, they will add Warshawski to that (growing) list. Warshawski remains in top form as she ages; battered some by life, perhaps a bit more acerbic and wryly cynical, but still a keen observer and first-person chronicler. As was the case with the 21 volumes that preceded it, Pay Dirt is unputdownable, a worthy addition to one of the finest series in modern suspense fiction.… (més)

V I Warshawski is a private investigator who in this book is working outside her usual field of expertise for a family friend. On a daily basis she exhausts herself beyond endurance, flirts with death, irritates both friends and enemies (and she has plenty of the latter) as she tries to bring the Big Shots - the corrupt Big Shots - to justice. Like Warshawski, I rapidly became exhausted by it all. I only picked this book up from the 36 Bus exchange shelf (brilliant idea, that) because I had nothing else to read at that moment. One book from the series is quite enough, thank you, even though it is in fact well and intelligently written.… (més)

Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky is recommended for die hard fans of the long running series featuring Chicago PI V.I. Warshawski.

Friends of V .I. Warshawski send her to Lawrence, KS to recharge and relax while enjoying a weekend of college basketball. Angela, one of her protégées, is playing. After Angela's housemate Sabrina goes missing, V.I. agrees to help in the search for the young woman. V.I. faces plenty of local suspicion but no local support in her search. When Sabrina is finally found suffering from an O.D., V.I. gets her to the hospital. Then the FBI gets involved and question V.I. about her kidnapping the girl and a murder.

This 22nd outing of the P.I. is full of the expected twists and turns in an intricate, complicated plot. Warshawski is an intelligent, tough, tenacious, and insightful main character who does not give up even when everything is seemingly against her. The investigative part of the narrative is interesting and will hold the attention of most readers.

Looking back over the years to the novels much earlier in the series, I can recall great pleasure reading each new V. I. Warshawski novel. That has started to lessen with recent novels and I believe the series and I are sadly going to go our separate ways now for several reasons. Again, Paretsky makes sure Kansas is depicted as a backward place (getting tired of this habitual plot element). Present day Lawrence, KS, doesn't remotely resemble the city she portrays in the novel. Additionally my fluid rule that authors need to keep their editorializing on personal social/political views on contemporary topics to themselves as it is divisive and diminishes the novel applies. Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/04/pay-dirt.html… (més)

3.5 stars (rating shown may depend on review site).

I've read some of this series but am not sure I've read all of them. It's been a while since I've read one as it took me a while to remember how V.I. ended up with Peppy and Mitch (dogs).

You wouldn't think that a young girl, a rehab/nursing home, a Jewish Synagogue, a contractor, and V.I.'s childhood neighbors would all connect, but somehow, Sara Paretsky makes it work.

This book is set during the Covid 19 pandemic (I'm not sure exactly when. Sometime after the shutdown but before nursing homes started allowing visitors again), which brought back some not so pleasant memories.

I wish we had learned what happened to Gisella and how her story turned out.… (més)