Chicago’s legendary detective V.I. Warshawski is set to return for her 20th case in Dead Land, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Sara Paretsky, due in bookstores on April 21, 2020.
Paretsky first introduced her now-legendary sleuth way back in her 1982 novel Indemnity Only. Most recently, Victoria Iphigenia was seen in last year’s Shell Game, which saw her lock horns with everyone from ISIS to the Russian mob after she discovered a network of stock scams and stolen art that stretched from Chicago all the way to the Middle East.
Now, thirty-eight years after first appearing on the pages of Indemnity Only, Warshawski finds herself dragged into a nasty battle over lakefront land use when her goddaughter comes to her for help in Dead Land, the 20th book in Paretsky’s longrunning franchise. Check out the official cover art and plot details below.
Chicago’s legendary detective, V.I. Warshawski, knows her city’s rotten underbelly better than most, but she’s unable to avoid it when her goddaughter drags her into a fight over lakefront land use, in this propulsive novel from New York Times bestseller Sara Paretsky.
Chicago may be the city of broad shoulders, but its political law is “Pay to Play.” Money changes hands in the middle of the night, and by morning, buildings and parks are replaced by billion-dollar projects.
Chicago PI V.I. Warshawski gets pulled into one of these clandestine deals through her impetuous goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard. Bernie tries to rescue Lydia Zamir, a famed singer-songwriter now living on the streets; Zamir’s life fell apart when her lover was murdered next to her in a mass shooting at an outdoor concert. Not only does Bernie plunge her and V.I. headlong into the path of some ruthless developers, they lead to the murder of the young man Bernie is dating. He’s a computer geek working for a community group called SLICK.
V.I. is desperate to find a mysterious man named Coop, who roams the lakefront in the middle of the night with his dog. She’s sure he holds the key to the mounting body count within SLICK. Coop may even know why an international law firm is representing the mass murderer responsible for Lydia’s lover’s death. Instead, the detective finds a terrifying conspiracy stretching from Chicago’s parks to a cover-up of the dark chapters in America’s meddling in South American politics. Before she finds answers, this electrifying novel pushes V.I. close to the breaking point: People who pay to play take no prisoners.
Sara Paretsky is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two previous novels, including the renowned V.I. Warshawski series. She is one of only four living writers—alongside John le Carré, Peter Lovesey, and Lawrence Block—to have received both the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain. Her essay collection, Writing in an Age of Silence, was a National Book Critics Circle awards finalist. She lives in Chicago.
Fans of Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski series can now pre-order Dead Land wherever books are available.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and pens a monthly thriller column for CrimeReads. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.