Product Description

It's strictly Friends & Family as V.I. Warshawski, "the detective mystery fans have been waiting for" (Time), makes return appearances in a collection of stories that bring new meaning to "ties that bind."  Decked out in her silk shirts and no-nonsense Attitude, V.I. is out to make a living--by the skin of her teeth.

In "Grace Notes," V.I. has barely finished her morning coffee when she sees an ad in the paper asking for information about her own mother, long dead.  The paper leads V.I. to her newfound Italian cousin Vico, who's looking for music composed by their great-grandmother.  What's the score?  Clearly it's something to kill for... "The Pietro Andromache" finds V.I.'s friend Dr. Lotty Herschel with motive and means to dispatch her professional rival and steal his priceless statue.  Lotty didn't do it--but does she know who did?  V.I. soon cuts to the art of the case--and it's not a pretty picture at all!

Summoned by an old high school friend to a race "At the Old Swimming Hole," V.I. ends up swimming with the sharks--the FBI and a ruthless gambling kingpin--in a pool of blood.... And it's only "Skin Deep" when a relaxing facial transformation transforms a client into a stiff.  V.I.'s pal Sal needs help.  Her beautician sister Evangeline is prime suspect--and V.I. has only eighteen hours to crack the case before it's headline news..."  Three-Dot Po" proves there's nothing like a dog.  Especially a dog on the trail of her mistress's killer, with V.I. in tow...

In "Strung Out," love means nothing and V.I.'s quick to learn the score as her old friend's tennis-champion daughter is under suspicion for strangling her father with a racket string.  And there's more, nine stories in all, in this masterful collection of short fiction starring V.I. Warshawski, "the most engaging woman in detective fiction since Dorothy Sayers's Harriet Vane" (Newsweek).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #556648 in Books
• Published on: 1996-11-02
• Released on: 1996-11-02
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.90" h x .95" w x 4.15" l, .40 pounds
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Chicago PI V.I. Warshawski stars in a collection of short tales.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This collection of five short stories read by Jean Smart will charm fans of Paretsky (Blood Shot, Audio Reviews, LJ 12/93) and her fabulous creation, V.I. Warshawski. Smart reads beautifully: Warshawski's contralto voice sounds tough, intelligent, and unflagging. The beat and stress of syllables demonstrate the energetic, quick-thinking detective even when her voice fades in exhaustion or pain. The stories also give Smart room to use accents, which she does most felicitously: in "Grace Notes," V.I. meets an Italian cousin, and Smart's Italian accent is rhythmic and winsome; in "The Maltese Cat," Warshawski's Mississippi clients sound either aristocratic or redneck; hesitation and quiet mark the speech of Japanese-American protagonists in "The Takomoku Joseki." Other stories include "At the Old Swimming Hole," where V.I. witnesses a murder at a swim meet, and "The Case of the Pietro Andromache," in which Max's lover, Dr. Lotte Hershold, is accused of murder. Highly recommended for popular and mystery collections.
Juleigh Muirhead Clark, Coll. of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The ever-popular Paretsky is back with a book of nine short stories featuring that revered idol of the female PI genre, V. I. Warshawski. Although V. I.'s just as feisty and tough-talking as ever, she presents a somewhat softer side in this series of stories that gives a nostalgic nod to Vic's friends, family, and past. In "Grace Notes," readers learn more about her mysterious Italian musical mama when a long-lost cousin shows up looking for sheet music that belonged to the mother Vic barely knew. Vic's friend Lotty Herschel is featured in "Pietro Andromache," which has Vic uncovering art fraud when a sculpture that once belonged to Lotty's Nazi-destroyed family turns up. Unfortunately, the first story in the book is pretty much the best; after that, the plots get shorter, shallower, and less engaging. Even the usually interesting V. I. doesn't hold up as well in this outing, but Paretsky can't be faulted for trying a new format for her popular heroine. There's little doubt that the book will be another runaway best-seller for the unstoppable Paretsky or that V. I. will remain an unstoppable, untoppable superstar. Emily Melton