Purely and simply this is a spendid whodunit.
V.I. Warshawski, intrepid Chicago private detective is "guilted" into finding her old neighbor's father. What she finds is a big business covering up years of exposing its employees to a toxic substance, and now willing to kill to perpetuate the coverup. V.I., running a little scared after an attempt on her life, is still smart enough to outwit the bad guys. A great read.
This is the 6th in the series about tough Chicago PI VI (Vic) Warshawski. She investigates a 25 year old case which produces a new corpse. VI gets into her usual tough scrapes; the action and dialogue are fast paced and engaging. Each book about VI gets better and better.
the first one I'd read. great fun!
From back of book:
V.I. Warshawski isn't crazy about going back to her old south Chicago neighborhood, but a promise is something she always keeps. Caroline, a childhood friend, has a dying mother and a problem -- after twenty-five years she wants V.I. to find the father she never knew. But when V.I. starts probing into the past, she not only finds out where all the bodies are buried -- she stumbles onto a very new corpse. Now she's stirring up a deadly mix of big business and chemical corruption that may become a toxic shock to a snooper who knows too much.
V.I. Warshawski isn't crazy about going back to her old south Chicago neighborhood, but a promise is something she always keeps. Caroline, a childhood friend, has a dying mother and a problem -- after twenty-five years she wants V.I. to find the father she never knew. But when V.I. starts probing into the past, she not only finds out where all the bodies are buried -- she stumbles onto a very new corpse. Now she's stirring up a deadly mix of big business and chemical corruption that may become a toxic shock to a snooper who knows too much.
Another great read by Sara Peretsky. I'm from Chicago and it's all real.
5 in series
Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series is enormously popular. This one, an early one (before Paretsky got to be so egregiously feminist that the stories became hard to read), has V.I. (a lady PI) digging up an environmental mess with chemical dumping and murder to cover it up.
"V.I. Warshawski, private investigator, uncovers a network of corruption when she goes back to her old neighborhood in Chicago." - worldcat.org
