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Sara Paretsky

Author of Indemnity Only

84+ Works 21,646 Members 614 Reviews 55 Favorited

About the Author

Author Sara Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa on June 8, 1947. She received a degree in political science from the University of Kansas and ultimately completed a Ph.D. in history at the University of Chicago; her dissertation was entitled "The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy in New England Before the show more Civil War." She also earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. She married a professor of physics (University of Chicago). The protagonist of all but two of Paretsky's novels is V.I. Warshawski, a female private investigator. V. I. Warshawsky shows a female detective succeeding a traditionally male role. Paretsky has won numerous awards for her work including the Silver Dagger Award for Toxic Shock, the Gold Dagger award for Blacklist, and the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers Association. Her title Brush Back made the New York Times Best Seller List in 2015. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Sara Paretsky

Indemnity Only (1983) 1,511 copies
Blacklist (2003) 1,353 copies
Tunnel Vision (1994) 1,254 copies
Fire Sale (2005) 1,233 copies
Blood Shot (1988) 1,185 copies
Hard Time (1999) 1,183 copies
Guardian Angel (1992) 1,173 copies
Burn Marks (1990) 1,117 copies
Bitter Medicine (1987) 1,117 copies
Killing Orders (1985) 1,110 copies
Deadlock (1984) 1,096 copies
Total Recall (2001) 1,060 copies
Hardball (2009) 850 copies
Windy City Blues (1991) 785 copies
Body Work (2010) 754 copies
Bleeding Kansas (2008) 652 copies
Breakdown (2012) 562 copies
Critical Mass (2013) 475 copies
Fallout (2017) 409 copies
Ghost Country (1998) 375 copies
Brush Back (2015) 350 copies
Shell Game (2018) 349 copies
A Woman's Eye (1991) — Editor; Introduction — 272 copies
Dead Land (2020) 257 copies
Women on the Case (1996) — Editor — 209 copies
Overboard (2022) 172 copies
Writing in an Age of Silence (1900) 166 copies
A Taste of Life (1995) 120 copies
Love & Other Crimes (2020) 70 copies
The Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2022 (2022) — Editor — 40 copies
Crime Story Collection (2000) 28 copies
Beastly Tales (1989) — Editor — 25 copies
Death on the Edge (2018) 19 copies
Female Sleuths (1993) 13 copies
Strung Out (1997) 12 copies
Photo Finish (2011) 8 copies
Sharon Gless Reads Crime's Leading Ladies {audiobook} (1995) — Contributor — 6 copies
Grace Notes (1995) 4 copies
Five Short Stories (1995) 3 copies
Skin Deep {story} (1994) 3 copies
Overboard (2022) 2 copies
Schiebung (Ariadne) (2022) 1 copy
Urgence (2002) 1 copy
Der Ferienkrimi. (1999) 1 copy
Silver Lies 1 copy
Zwijgen verzekerd (1985) 1 copy
Settled Score (1998) 1 copy

Associated Works

The Secret of the Old Clock (1930) — Introduction, some editions — 6,920 copies
The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century (2000) — Contributor — 452 copies
The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries (2013) — Contributor — 289 copies
A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women (2000) — Contributor — 264 copies
In the Company of Sherlock Holmes (2011) — Contributor — 224 copies
Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel (2005) — Foreword, some editions — 207 copies
Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe (1988) — Contributor — 200 copies
A Century of Great Suspense Stories (2001) — Contributor — 152 copies
Women of Mystery (1992) — Contributor — 125 copies
Sisters in Crime (1990) — Contributor — 125 copies
The Folio Book of Christmas Crime Stories (2004) — Contributor — 117 copies
A New Omnibus of Crime (1771) — Contributor — 97 copies
The Best of Sisters in Crime (1997) — Contributor — 92 copies
Murder for Love (1996) — Contributor — 91 copies
Sisters in Crime 5 (1992) — Contributor — 85 copies
Deadly Housewives (2006) — Contributor — 84 copies
Sisters in Crime 3 (1990) — Contributor — 79 copies
The Big Book of Female Detectives (2018) — Contributor — 79 copies
A Century of Noir: Thirty-two Classic Crime Stories (2002) — Contributor — 78 copies
Deadlock [Retold by Rowena Akinyemi] (1995) — Original Author — 77 copies
Lady on the Case: 22 Female Detective Stories (1988) — Contributor — 76 copies
Stranded (2005) — Foreword, some editions — 72 copies
It Occurs to Me That I Am America: New Stories and Art (2018) — Contributor — 71 copies
Ice Cold: Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War (2014) — Contributor — 71 copies
The Oxford Book of Detective Stories (2000) — Contributor — 69 copies
First Cases: First Appearances of Classic Private Eyes (1996) — Contributor — 68 copies
Women on the Edge (1992) — Contributor — 63 copies
1st Culprit: A Crime Writers' Association Annual (1992) — Contributor — 58 copies
A Modern Treasury of Great Detective and Murder Mysteries (1994) — Contributor — 57 copies
Chicago Noir: The Classics (2015) — Contributor — 50 copies
3rd Culprit: An Annual of Crime Stories (1994) — Contributor — 41 copies
Mysterious Pleasures (2003) — Contributor — 34 copies
A Century of Mystery 1980-1989 (1997) — Contributor — 33 copies
Most Wanted (2002) — Contributor — 29 copies
Women of Mystery - Book 3 (1998) 24 copies
Crime Hits Home (2022) — Contributor — 23 copies
Lethal Ladies (1996) — Contributor — 22 copies
New Crimes 1 (1989) — Contributor — 20 copies
The Penguin Book of Crime Stories (2007) — Contributor — 17 copies
Lethal Ladies II (1998) — Contributor — 14 copies
Crime After Crime (1998) — Contributor — 13 copies
The Arvon Book of Crime and Thriller Writing (2012) — Contributor — 10 copies
Homicidal Acts (1988) — Contributor — 9 copies
Crimes of Passion: Twenty-Three Tales of Love and Hate (1993) — Contributor — 8 copies
Murder and Mystery in Chicago (1988) — Contributor — 8 copies
Dangerous Ladies (1992) — Contributor — 8 copies
Fifty Shades of Grey Fedora (2015) — Contributor — 6 copies
Murder to Go (1993) — Contributor — 5 copies
Den kriminelle novelle (1999) — Author, some editions — 5 copies
First Cases [Unabridged Audiobook] (2002) — Contributor — 3 copies

Tagged

20th century (72) American (123) American literature (95) anthology (522) Chicago (864) children's (127) crime (982) crime fiction (561) detective (463) detective fiction (109) ebook (153) fantasy (74) female detective (100) fiction (2,809) hardcover (112) Illinois (113) murder (85) mysteries (91) mystery (4,467) mystery fiction (83) Nancy Drew (490) novel (168) own (106) paperback (95) PI (99) private detective (206) private eye (73) read (307) Sara Paretsky (80) series (319) short stories (678) suspense (136) thriller (214) to-read (878) unread (102) USA (126) V.I. Warshawski (867) Warshawski (93) writing (133) young adult (117)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

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.
… (more)
½
 
Flagged
JenniferRobb | 12 other reviews | Mar 18, 2024 |
Rain had turned the streets a shiny black. It coated windshields with a film that cut visibility to inches, and turned potholes into lakes that trapped unwary drivers. All month, Chicago had been hit by storms that put as much as three inches of water on the ground in an hour; but left the air as thick and heavy as a wet parka. Tonight's storm was one of the worst of the summer. I'd come up empty in.all the likely spots, bus stops, coffee shops, even the sleaziest nightclubs that might not card a bunch of tweens. I was about to give up when I saw lights flashing in the cemetery to my right. I pulled over and rolled down my window. Above the rumble of rain on my rooftop I could hear high-pitched chatter and bursts of nervous laughter.… (more)
 
Flagged
taurus27 | 43 other reviews | Feb 24, 2024 |
I LOVE V.I. Warshaski...her grit, her pushiness, her courage. Her in-your-face refusal to be bullied. Love everything about these stories!
 
Flagged
KKBucher | 36 other reviews | Feb 13, 2024 |

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Associated Authors

Otto Penzler Series Editor
Marilyn Wallace Contributor
Liza Cody Contributor
Marcia Muller Contributor
Susan Dunlap Contributor
Nancy Pickard Contributor
Barbara Wilson Contributor
Amanda Cross Contributor
Carolyn G. Hart Contributor
Carolyn Wheat Contributor
Sue Grafton Contributor
Sandra Burr Narrator, Reader
Jerome Charyn Contributor
Shelley Singer Contributor
Faye Kellerman Contributor
Antonia Frasier Contributor
Margaret Maron Contributor
Julie Smith Contributor
Dorothy B. Hughes Contributor
Mary Wings Contributor
Gillian Slovo Contributor
Ruth Rendell Contributor
Elizabeth George Contributor
Antonia Fraser Contributor
Susan Geason Contributor
Nevada Barr Contributor
Myriam Laurini Contributor
Linda Grant Contributor
Helga Anderle Contributor
Pieke Biermann Contributor
Andrea Smith Contributor
Amel Benaboura Contributor
Lia Matera Contributor
Linda Barnes Contributor
P. M. Carlson Contributor
Frances Fyfield Contributor
Irina Muravyova Contributor
Jean Smart Narrator
Ginny Swart Contributor
Stefon Mears Contributor
Ellen Tremiti Contributor
Annie Reed Contributor
Joseph S. Walker Contributor
Susan Frith Contributor
Sean Marciniak Contributor
Gwen Mullins Contributor
Anna Scotti Contributor
Colin Barrett Contributor
Michael Wiley Contributor
Keith Lee Morris Contributor
Michael Connelly Contributor
Joyce Carol Oates Contributor
Tom Larsen Contributor
Colson Whitehead Contributor
Susan Glaspell Contributor
Jo Nesbø Contributor
Doug Allyn Contributor
Dick Stodghill Contributor
Donald E. Westlake Contributor
Justin Scott Contributor
Clark Howard Contributor
Isaac Asimov Contributor
Hope Raymond Contributor
Joyce Harrington Contributor
James Holding Contributor
Joan Richter Contributor
Sharyn McCrumb Contributor
Antonia Frazer Contributor
Sharon Gless Narrator
Kathy Bates Narrator
Susan Ericksen Narrator, Reader
Osmo Saarinen Translator
Irmeli Ruuska Translator
Sonja Hauser Translator
Staffan Andrae Translator
Mireia Puig Translator
Peter Franke Cover artist
Luud Dorresteijn Translator
Uta Münch Übersetzer
Åsa Hesslefors Translator
Sibylle Schmidt Übersetzer
Mats Hörmark Translator
Ton Koster Translator
Anette Grube Translator
Isak Rogde Overs.
Dietlind Kaiser Translator
Katja Münch Übersetzer
Yngve Rydholm Translator
Nadia May Narrator
Karen Peakes Narrator
Mariska Cock Cover designer
Julia Gorton Cover artist
Peter Wood Photographer
Janet Atkinson Cover artist
Gina Leishman Narrator
Lorri Holt Narrator

Statistics

Works
84
Also by
71
Members
21,646
Popularity
#994
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
614
ISBNs
996
Languages
16
Favorited
55

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