Hardball

Sara Paretsky

This caused riots in which the police were attacked for protecting King. For Paretsky, “my summer in the city was the defining time of my life.” She has been a resident of Chicago since, and her stories of fictional detective, VI Warhawski, in 12 novels preceding this one, have showcased the city with its lakes, parks, expressways, underground malls, suburban trains and extremes of weather.

Since Warshawski’s debut in 1982, both she and Paretsky have been unfairly accused of being humourless feminists. Paretsky is tough, as hard-boiled private eyes have to be. But she has a sense of humour, albeit heavily sarcastic. VI is showing signs of her age, highlighted here by the introduction of her cousin, Petra, a 23-year-old from Kansas who is spending her own “defining time” working on the campaign of a Kennedy-like political candidate. Petra is typical of her generation, living online and on her cellphone, exuberant, careless, self-confident. She is like a creature from another planet to the suspicious, world-weary VI.