Body Work

Club Gouge: Chicago's edgiest night spot, where a woman calling herself the Body Artist invites the audience to use her naked body as a canvas.

The show attracts all kinds of people, from a menacing cop to Ukrainian mobsters and Iraq war veterans. A tormented young painter comes too, and the designs she creates on the Body Artist drive one of the soldiers into a violent rage.

When the painter is shot, the police assume the shell-shocked veteran went off the rails. But his family hires V.I. to clear his name - and the detective discovers a chain of ugly truths stretching from Iraq to Chicago's South Side.

“'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'”

One of the most memorable novels in Paretsky's fine series. - Joan Smith, The Times

Paretsky has been putting her private investigator through her paces since 1982, changing perceptions of women in crime fiction through the creation of a fiercely independent female detective. She keeps her brand of politicised noir fresh by responding to issues - social, cultural and political as well as gender - in contemporary life . . . Tackling the politics of the Iraq War and ideologies of corporate greed where the human body is devalued, Paretsky is firing on all cylinders - Metro

This is the 14th case for the feminist gumshoe and it has all the hallmarks and energy of its predecessors. - Sunday Telegraph

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

Very readable - The Times

Paretsky's writing captures the essence of her beguiling heroine: Victoria Iphigenia is as tough as nails with a soft spot for justice that just won't quit. - Time Out

Sara Paretsky, the author of the V.I. Warshawski novels, was named 2011 Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. She is the winner of many awards, including the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers' Association and the CWA Gold Dagger for Blacklist.

Visit Sara's website, , find her on Facebook, , and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Sara1982P.

Club Gouge: Chicago's edgiest night spot, where a woman calling herself the Body Artist invites the audience to use her naked body as a canvas.The show attracts all kinds of people, from a menacing cop to Ukrainian mobsters and Iraq war veterans. A tormented young painter comes too, and the designs she creates on the Body Artist drive one of the soldiers into a violent rage.When the painter is shot, the police assume the shell-shocked veteran went off the rails. But his family hires V.I. to clear his name - and the detective discovers a chain of ugly truths stretching from Iraq to Chicago's South Side.

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