Brush Back: (V.I. Warshawski Novels)

About the Book

Chicago's V. I. Warshawski confronts crooked politicians and buried family secrets in the gritty new novel from New York Times-bestselling author Sara Paretsky.

No one would accuse V. I. Warshawski of backing down from a fight, but there are a few she'd be happy to avoid. High on that list is tangling with Chicago political bosses. Yet that's precisely what she ends up doing when she responds to Frank Guzzo's plea for help.

For six stormy weeks back in high school, V.I. thought she was in love with Frank. He broke up with her, she went off to college, he started driving trucks for Bagby Haulage. She forgot about him until the day his mother was convicted of bludgeoning his kid sister, Annie, to death. Stella Guzzo was an angry, uncooperative prisoner and did a full twenty-five years for her daughter's murder.

Newly released from prison, Stella is looking for exoneration, so Frank asks V.I. for help. V.I. doesn't want to get involved. Stella hated the Warshawskis, in particular V.I.'s adored mother, Gabriella.

But life has been hard on Frank and on V.I.'s other childhood friends, still stuck on the hardscrabble streets around the dead steel mills, and V.I. agrees to ask a few questions. Those questions lead her straight into the vipers' nest of Illinois politics she's wanted to avoid. When V.I. takes a beating at a youth meeting in her old hood, her main question becomes whether she will live long enough to find answers.

About the Author :
Sara Paretsky is the author of twenty books, including the renowned V. I. Warshawski novels. She was named 2011 Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, and is also the recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award given by the British Crime Writers' Association. She lives in Chicago.

Review :
Praise for "Critical Mass"
"There are plenty of women among the ranks of genre authors, but not many like Sara Paretsky, whose intellectually lively mysteries featuring her gutsy Chicago private eye, V. I. Warshawski, are fired by political causes and feminist social issues. . . . Paretsky makes us feel both her own love for science and her fury at the way women like Martina have been denied the pursuit of their passion." --Marilyn Stasio, "The New York Times Book Review"
"This is Paretsky at her best, describing with a reporter's eye and a painter's vision the light and texture of a place. A scene that throbs with menace concludes with a shock. . . . Yet the tension, palpable from the first page, is sustained and deftly heightened by brief flashbacks to a wartime and postwar world of shifting loyalties and dangers . . . Warshawski, for her part, must confront not only killers but also crooked federal agents. Which she does, as always, without breaking her stride." --"The Washington Post"
"A daring departure for Paretsky, combining her interests in women's history, science and the Holocaust--and is a career crowning triumph."
--"The Sunday Times" (London)
""Critical Mass" proves that this gifted author is still, justifiably, a star. . . . Paretsky . . . has an impressive knack for weaving gripping history into her swift plot." --"The Seattle Times"
"As usual, V.I.'s quest is fraught with plenty of danger and white-knuckle moments. . . . It is as much a breathless mystery as a historical delving into science and wartime academic politics. An intellectual mystery that will please the author's many fans." --"Library Journal"
"V.I. has a charismatic and blistering way of bringing old secrets to light." --"Kirkus Reviews"
"Stellar . . . Paretsky builds suspense by deftly weaving the contemporary narrative with flashbacks." --"Publishers Weekly "(starred review)
"Paretsky has been on a roll lately, her long-running, trailblazing series at its most dynamic since the early days." --"Booklist "(starred review)
"Sara Paretsky seems to have renewed creative energy, evident in pages that almost turn themselves." --"Erie Times-News"
"Readers don't have to understand all the physics to get inside this riveting story." --"Shelf Awareness"
"With entombments, solved mysteries, loose ends neatly tied, good writing and a little bit of love, "Critical Mass" is a thoroughly satisfying read." --"St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
"Sara Paretsky mystery capers are always full of twists and turns, including surprising elements that this reviewer eagerly anticipates when reading her books. "Critical Mass" is a complex family mystery that reaches from the past into the modern day, and is one of Paretsky's best. . . . It takes a character like V. I. Warshawski, who is willing to see justice served at any cost, to get to the truth. And this is exactly what has endeared Paretsky's time-tested heroine to so many faithful readers." --Bookreporter.com
"Although she has been writing about Vic for more than 30 years, Paretsky always keeps the character fresh and believable. Vic feels the blows and tumbles she takes more than she used to, but she's as relentless as ever. In "Critical Mass," both Warshawski and Paretsky are at the top of their forms." --"Tampa Bay Times"