Hardball: V.I. Warshawski 13 - Hardcover

Although it's much harder to pull off something astonishing in a longstanding private-eye series, Sara Paretsky manages to do just that in her new V.I. Warshawski novel * The New York Times Notable Crime Book of 2009 * Paretsky seems incapable of writing a disappointing book. What she does consistently is to turn an unwavering gaze onto a nation's troubled history and equally troubled present. And she never loses sight of the fact that ordinary people are the victims of corruption and social injustive. * www.reviewingtheevidence.com * The thing about Sara Paretsky is, she's tough . . . she doesn't flinch from examining old social injustices others might find too shameful (and too painful) to dig up . . . it's a distinct pleasure to hear her unapologetically strident voice once again * The New York Times * Tough, complex and moving, Paretsky is still at the top of her crowded genre. * Bookseller * With the creation of V.I. Warshawski, Sara Paretsky did more than anyone to change the face of contemporary women's fiction. * Express on Sunday * Packed with social themes and moral energy, held together by humor, compassion and sheer feistiness, this novel shows why Paretsky and her heroine are such enduring figure in American detective fiction * Publishers Weekly (starred) * Details are so rich and the dialogue so snappy that the mystery whizzes by. * Guardian * A strong, well-constructed novel, firmly founded in Chicago and its politics, past and present. Paretsky's plot combines racism, police corruption and family secrets - including Warshawski's - and the lost idealism of the 1960s provides a haunting backdrop. Some crime series grow stale over time, but there's no sign of fatigue here. This is partly because the recurring characters continue to develop and engage the reader, and partly because of the moral intelligence that informs the writing. * Spectator * She is writing with the kind of passion for social justice that inspired Chandler and Hammett . . . a narrative as gripping as it is emotionally wrenching. * Joan Smith, The Sunday Times * Another hard hitting thriller by a doughty crusader * Literary Review * HARDBALL is a big, chewy, old-fashioned yarn about a P.I. looking into a sprawling, decade-spanning web of police corruption. But when it's this entertaining, there's nothing wrong with that at all * Metro * Paretsky has evoked - and celebrated - the multiplicity of Chicago's neighbourhoods, its old and new immigrants and its tragic history of race relations; and these years of America's financial and political decadence seem to have rekindled her passion for social justice. * Times Literary Supplement * 'The author's skill in tackling these topics [politics & feminism] in a subtle way is impressive, and the fact that she manages to couch it all in a breakneck-thriller plot is testament to her skill as a storyteller.' * Big Issue on HARDBALL * Within a racial melting pot, Paretsky hits her own personal best; HARDBALL takes the thinking woman's detective to a new level of excellence * Financial Times Weekend * 'V.I. Warshawski, one of fiction's best female sleuths' * Saga * 'HARDBALL is a standout . . . an ambitious novel, layered in the grit of recent American racial history' * National Public Radio, USA * Sara Paretsky is on top form . . . HARDBALL is a haunting novel, skilfully combining power politics and intensely personal events * Joan Smith, Sunday Times *

When V.I. Warshawski is asked to find a man who's been missing for four decades, a search that she thought would be futile turns lethal. Old skeletons from the city's racially charged history rise up to force her back with a vengeance - a nun who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. dies without revealing crucial evidence, and on the city's South Side, people spit when she shows up. The elderly sisters who hired her are also keeping important information to themselves. Then V.I. finds that her family is keeping secrets of their own. A young cousin whom she's never met arrives from Kansas City to work on a political campaign, but disappears under mysterious circumstances. Afraid to learn that her adored father might have been a bent cop, deception and corruption following her at every step, V.I. finds all her certainties under threat, but takes the investigation all the way to its frightening end.