Susan Ericksen narrates this installment in the V.I. Warshawski mystery series. When a young man is suspected of murder because his phone number is found in the victim’s pocket, Warshawski becomes entangled in a web of Middle Eastern archaeological artifacts, a shady payday loan business, Russian gangsters, and missing nieces recently rescued from working the streets. The investigator becomes confused and frustrated, but Ericksen maintains a crisply articulate characterization as V.I. pursues the truth. Ericksen’s portrayal of a Syrian refugee is lovely, and she renders the nieces as annoyingly entitled millennials. Most entertaining is her narration of Warshawski’s ex-husband, a sleazy lawyer who is the common thread in a chain of criminality. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

We may be living in a cool, cool world, but as long as Paretsky's hotheaded, quick-witted sleuth is on the job, imperiled young women and the artistic riches of vulnerable nations will always have a champion.

08/20/2018
Lotty Herschel, V.I. Warshawski’s stand-in maternal figure, needs her friend’s help in MWA Grand Master Paretsky’s riveting 20th novel featuring the intrepid Chicago PI (after 2017’s Fall Out). The police are trying to pin a murder on Lotty’s Canadian-born engineering student nephew, Felix, who’s involved with Engineers in a Free State, whose members include several Middle Eastern students. In the midst of trying to gently extract information out of the recalcitrant Felix, Warshawski’s own past turns up on her door in the form of Harmony Seale, the niece of her sleazy lawyer ex-husband. Harmony wants Warshawski’s help in finding her older sister, Reno, who moved to Chicago for work but has fallen off the grid. Warshawki reluctantly tries to track down the wayward Reno and finds herself in the middle of a corporate power struggle, where rich men take what they want and young women caught in the middle bear the brunt of power grabs and worse. Paretsky isn’t one to tiptoe around injustice, and this entry proves once again that she’s one of the sharpest crime writers on the scene today. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Agency. (Oct.)

As long as Paretsky’s hotheaded, quick-witted sleuth is on the job, imperiled young women…will always have a champion.” — New York Times Book Review

“Chicago’s V.I. Warshawski is on top form in Sara Paretsky’s Shell Game.” — Seattle Review of Books

“Even after decades, Paretsky’s landmark series remains as popular as ever, and the social consciousness behind the stories seems ever more in tune with contemporary events.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Warshawski’s latest adventure, Shell Game, is a multi-layered mystery with lots of moving parts that all come together in a triumphant moment of truth and justice which satisfies the soul and the intellect.” — Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

“ V.I. Warshawski [is] a sleuth to rival the greats, from Sam Spade and Nero Wolfe to Harry Bosch and Stephanie Plum... Shell Game is the most soulful novel of [Paretsky’s] extraordinary career—the most urgent, the most haunting, the most satisfying. Please read Shell Game.” — A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Simply superb! As a fan of V.I. Warshawski from the very beginning, I can say without a doubt that... both author and protagonist [are] at the top of their games.” — Jeffery Deaver

“A road trip with V.I. Warshawski? Sign me up! What a thrill to join her on a missing-persons hunt that quickly turns dark and dangerous. Sara Paretsky’s legendary P.I. is at the top of her game. Everyone will want to go along for this ride.” — Tess Gerritsen

“For me, the most remarkable of the moderns is Sara Paretsky. ...No other crime writer has so powerfully and effectively combined a well-crafted detective story with the novel of social realism.” — P.D. James

“Considerable pleasure comes from following the legendary heroine through an impenetrable maze of felonies knowing that you’re in a master’s hands.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Riveting. Paretsky isn’t one to tiptoe around injustice, and this entry proves once again that she’s one of the sharpest crime writers on the scene today.” — Publishers Weekly

“As is usually the case with Paretsky’s novels, there is considerable social and political commentary... Everyone else can revel in the superb pacing, the well-developed characters and the crisp dialogue from one of the most consistently excellent writers in the genre.” — BookPage

“Warshawsky is an iconic sleuth, and in the recent novels she’s proven a savvy vehicle for exploring changing social (and criminal) currents in the Windy City, a city she’s come to define as surely as Marlowe once defined L.A.” — CrimeReads, “Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2018”

“Shell Game is a smart and engrossing international mystery to unravel that will keep readers wrapped up in its pages.” — Criminal Element

“Clever and devilishly complicated” — The Oklahoman

V.I. Warshawski [is] a sleuth to rival the greats, from Sam Spade and Nero Wolfe to Harry Bosch and Stephanie Plum... Shell Game is the most soulful novel of [Paretsky’s] extraordinary career—the most urgent, the most haunting, the most satisfying. Please read Shell Game.

As long as Paretsky’s hotheaded, quick-witted sleuth is on the job, imperiled young women…will always have a champion.

A road trip with V.I. Warshawski? Sign me up! What a thrill to join her on a missing-persons hunt that quickly turns dark and dangerous. Sara Paretsky’s legendary P.I. is at the top of her game. Everyone will want to go along for this ride.

For me, the most remarkable of the moderns is Sara Paretsky. ...No other crime writer has so powerfully and effectively combined a well-crafted detective story with the novel of social realism.

Even after decades, Paretsky’s landmark series remains as popular as ever, and the social consciousness behind the stories seems ever more in tune with contemporary events.

Simply superb! As a fan of V.I. Warshawski from the very beginning, I can say without a doubt that... both author and protagonist [are] at the top of their games.

Warshawski’s latest adventure, Shell Game, is a multi-layered mystery with lots of moving parts that all come together in a triumphant moment of truth and justice which satisfies the soul and the intellect.

Chicago’s V.I. Warshawski is on top form in Sara Paretsky’s Shell Game.

Clever and devilishly complicated

Shell Game is a smart and engrossing international mystery to unravel that will keep readers wrapped up in its pages.

Warshawsky is an iconic sleuth, and in the recent novels she’s proven a savvy vehicle for exploring changing social (and criminal) currents in the Windy City, a city she’s come to define as surely as Marlowe once defined L.A.

As is usually the case with Paretsky’s novels, there is considerable social and political commentary... Everyone else can revel in the superb pacing, the well-developed characters and the crisp dialogue from one of the most consistently excellent writers in the genre.

Even after decades, Paretsky’s landmark series remains as popular as ever, and the social consciousness behind the stories seems ever more in tune with contemporary events.

Susan Ericksen narrates this installment in the V.I. Warshawski mystery series. When a young man is suspected of murder because his phone number is found in the victim’s pocket, Warshawski becomes entangled in a web of Middle Eastern archaeological artifacts, a shady payday loan business, Russian gangsters, and missing nieces recently rescued from working the streets. The investigator becomes confused and frustrated, but Ericksen maintains a crisply articulate characterization as V.I. pursues the truth. Ericksen’s portrayal of a Syrian refugee is lovely, and she renders the nieces as annoyingly entitled millennials. Most entertaining is her narration of Warshawski’s ex-husband, a sleazy lawyer who is the common thread in a chain of criminality. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

2018-07-31

V.I. Warshawski (Fallout, 2017, etc.) goes to bat for a niece of her own and a grandnephew of her best friend.

When an unidentified corpse turns up in the wilds of Cap Sauer's Holding, Lt. McGivney of the Cook County Sheriff's Office has to grasp at straws, and his most promising straw is a piece of paper in the dead man's pocket with Felix Herschel's phone number. Felix, whose grandfather was the brother of obstetrician Lotty Herschel, says he doesn't know what the man eventually identified as Elorenze Fausson was doing with his number. In the absence of any other suspects, however, McGivney remains interested, and Warshawski resolves to find evidence that exculpates him or incriminates someone else. Meantime, Harmony Seale, whose late mother was the sister of Warshawski's long-ago husband, attorney Richard Yarborough, has come in from Portland looking for her sister, Reno, and she wants Warshawski to help. The trail of Reno, who worked for bottom-feeding payday lender Rest EZ, leads back to a getaway weekend for high-rolling executives at which she was part of the entertainment, and the closer Warshawski looks at the clues, the more it looks as if her ex is in this mess up to his neck. It would be a relief to work on the murder of Elorenze Fausson if Warshawski didn't keep getting attacked by huge, implacable Slavic thugs—and if the two cases didn't give uncomfortable signs of growing together in an intricately woven pattern that includes kidnapping, the theft of a priceless antiquity, an elaborate and painstakingly detailed insurance fraud, and some unlikely romance for Warshawski.

It's pretty obvious early on who the criminal is, but that's true in most Sherlock Holmes stories, and the knowledge doesn't hurt any more here than there. The considerable pleasure comes from following the legendary heroine through an impenetrable maze of felonies knowing that you're in a master's hands.