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Body Work
Sara Paretsky, Putnam, $26.95 (432p) ISBN 978-0-399-15674-8
Paretsky’s superb 14th novel featuring PI V.I. Warshawski (after Hardball) delves into Chicago’s avant-garde art scene. At the trendy Club Gouge, where Warshawski is keeping an eye on Petra, a young cousin who caused trouble in the previous book, performance artist Karen Buckley (aka the Body Artist) invites members of the audience to step on stage to paint her nude body. The intricate design that one woman paints on Karen’s back provokes a violent outburst from Chad Vishneski, a troubled Iraqi war veteran. When two nights later, someone shoots the woman who upset Chad outside the club, Chad is the logical murder suspect. Hired by Chad’s estranged parents to clear his name, Warshawski straddles a minefield that reaches from the Windy City’s neighborhoods to the Gulf War battlefields. Scenes with her aging neighbor and a new love interest give a much needed balance to the serious plot. This strong outing shows why the tough, fiercely independent, dog-loving private detective continues to survive. (Sept.)

Hardball, which was one of 2009′s  five “most mesmerizing mysteries,” according to National Public Radio, will be out in paper on July 31.

“Sara Paretsky is tough,” writes Marilyn Stasio in the New York Times, “not because she observes the bone-breaker conventions of the private eye genre, but because she doesn’t flinch from examining injustices others find too painful to dig up….Voices like these can ring in your ears for 40 years and more.”

And the Chicago Tribune cries, “Welcome Back, Warshawski,” in a long feature by Pulitzer-prize winner Julia Keller.

The New York Post takes advantage of Hardball’s publication to look at some of the books that Sara Paretsky most cherishes in her personal library.

In this video shot by the Chicago Tribune, Sara (and three other Chicago writers) share what they think makes Chicago an exceptional place to call home.

The return of V I Warshawski in a case that takes her deep into the secrets not only of Chicago politics but also of her own family. Click here for more about the book; Click here to read an excerpt.

The Spectator loves Writing in an Age of Silence, calling Sara a “fearless freedom fighter.” Read the entire review here.

Sara has been blogging regularly with The Outfit, a Collective of Chicago Crime Writers.

MSNBC taped Sara for inclusion in a piece they were creating on America’s Top Sleuths, a show about the top ten film and TV detectives from the last 70 years. Viewers voted online to winnow the list down to 25, and then they interviewed a number of different people in the entertainment world. The show, runs periodically on the Sleuth (SLTH) Channel. Find out when it is being shown in your area here.