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Sara Paretsky Value Collection: Indemnity Only, Blood Shots, and Burn Marks
INDEMNITY ONLY
Meeting an anonymous client late on a sizzling summer night is asking for trouble. But trouble is Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski's specialty. Her client says he's the prominent banker, John Thayer. Turns out he's not. He says his son's girlfriend, Anita Hill, is missing. Turns out that's not her real name. V.I.'s search turns up someone soon enough -- the real John Thayer's son, and he's dead. Who's V.I.'s client? Why has she been set up and sent out on a wild-goose chase? By the time she's got it figured, things are hotter -- and deadlier -- than Chicago in July. V.I.'s in a desperate race against time. At stake: a young woman's life.
BURN MARKS
Someone knocking on the door at 3 A.M. is never good news. For V.I. Warshawski, the bad news arrives in the form of her wacky, unwelcome Aunt Elena. The fire that has just burned down a sleazy SRO hotel has brought Elena to V.I.'s doorstep. Uncovering an arsonist -- and the secrets hidden behind Elena's boozy smile - will send V.I. into the seedy world of Chicago's homeless... into the Windy City's backroom deals and bedroom politics, where new schemers and old cronies team up to get V.I. off the case -- by hook, by crook, or by homicide.
BLOOD SHOT
This time, V.I.'s girlhood pal Caroline needs her services. Caroline wants V.I. to uncover the identity of her father--which Caroline's dying mother angrily refuses to divulge. For V.I., it's a routine missing-persons search that means going back to her old stomping grounds, where she's not so hot to trot. But Caroline calls it quits when her friend, the head of a local recycling projec, is found dead in the polluted waters of a local pond. The trouble is, V.I. won't quit--because the search for Caroline's father has lead her into a toxic mix of corporate chicanery and chemical corruption. Add a dire family secret, and you've got a brew that could prove poisonous--especially to a certain private eye who knows too much.
Meeting an anonymous client late on a sizzling summer night is asking for trouble. But trouble is Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski's specialty. Her client says he's the prominent banker, John Thayer. Turns out he's not. He says his son's girlfriend, Anita Hill, is missing. Turns out that's not her real name. V.I.'s search turns up someone soon enough -- the real John Thayer's son, and he's dead. Who's V.I.'s client? Why has she been set up and sent out on a wild-goose chase? By the time she's got it figured, things are hotter -- and deadlier -- than Chicago in July. V.I.'s in a desperate race against time. At stake: a young woman's life.
BURN MARKS
Someone knocking on the door at 3 A.M. is never good news. For V.I. Warshawski, the bad news arrives in the form of her wacky, unwelcome Aunt Elena. The fire that has just burned down a sleazy SRO hotel has brought Elena to V.I.'s doorstep. Uncovering an arsonist -- and the secrets hidden behind Elena's boozy smile - will send V.I. into the seedy world of Chicago's homeless... into the Windy City's backroom deals and bedroom politics, where new schemers and old cronies team up to get V.I. off the case -- by hook, by crook, or by homicide.
BLOOD SHOT
This time, V.I.'s girlhood pal Caroline needs her services. Caroline wants V.I. to uncover the identity of her father--which Caroline's dying mother angrily refuses to divulge. For V.I., it's a routine missing-persons search that means going back to her old stomping grounds, where she's not so hot to trot. But Caroline calls it quits when her friend, the head of a local recycling projec, is found dead in the polluted waters of a local pond. The trouble is, V.I. won't quit--because the search for Caroline's father has lead her into a toxic mix of corporate chicanery and chemical corruption. Add a dire family secret, and you've got a brew that could prove poisonous--especially to a certain private eye who knows too much.
- GenresMystery
Audio
First published September 12, 1995
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About the author
Sara Paretsky
271 books2,369 followersSara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction. Paretsky was raised in Kansas, and graduated from the state university with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in 1968 to work there. She ultimately completed a Ph.D. in history at the University of Chicago, entitled The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy in New England Before the Civil War, and finally earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Married to a professor of physics at the University of Chicago, she has lived in Chicago since 1968.
The protagonist of all but two of Paretsky's novels is V.I. Warshawski, a female private investigator. Warshawski's eclectic personality defies easy categorization. She drinks Johnnie Walker Black Label, breaks into houses looking for clues, and can hold her own in a street fight, but also she pays attention to her clothes, sings opera along with the radio, and enjoys her sex life.
Paretsky is credited with transforming the role and image of women in the crime novel. The Winter 2007 issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection is devoted to her work.
Her two books that are non-Warshawski novels are : Ghost Country (1998) and Bleeding Kansas (2008).
The protagonist of all but two of Paretsky's novels is V.I. Warshawski, a female private investigator. Warshawski's eclectic personality defies easy categorization. She drinks Johnnie Walker Black Label, breaks into houses looking for clues, and can hold her own in a street fight, but also she pays attention to her clothes, sings opera along with the radio, and enjoys her sex life.
Paretsky is credited with transforming the role and image of women in the crime novel. The Winter 2007 issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection is devoted to her work.
Her two books that are non-Warshawski novels are : Ghost Country (1998) and Bleeding Kansas (2008).
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 21, 2021
Paretsky has always been a favorite. I came upon INDENITY ONLY as a 30th anniversary edition. It was published originally in 1982; I think it was her first outing for the V I character, although the quality of the plotting and the writing certainly didn't reflect that it was an early try.
Although I love the V I saga, perhaps my most favorite book was BLEEDING KANSAS, a 2009 novel that featured farm families still caught up in conflict that had dated to the abolitionist vs slavery times of the 1800's. For me, it was the first Paretsky's story that wasn't set in Chicago with a certain Polish-Italian PI that most people called Vic.
I plan to continue to revisit the Paretsky books I've read in the past. Some I may have read too quickly, like a child with fresh cookies. Others I simply want to appreciate again.
Although I love the V I saga, perhaps my most favorite book was BLEEDING KANSAS, a 2009 novel that featured farm families still caught up in conflict that had dated to the abolitionist vs slavery times of the 1800's. For me, it was the first Paretsky's story that wasn't set in Chicago with a certain Polish-Italian PI that most people called Vic.
I plan to continue to revisit the Paretsky books I've read in the past. Some I may have read too quickly, like a child with fresh cookies. Others I simply want to appreciate again.
September 10, 2016
Pretty entertaining - good job of building the tension, etc. etc. But something about the characters were annoying - sometimes I couldn't figure out why they were doing what they were doing.
And a little bit too much like the Sue Grafton books. Could have been a clone.
And a little bit too much like the Sue Grafton books. Could have been a clone.
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November 7, 20121/1/95
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews