V.I. gets tangled in a web of lies, extortion, blackmail, sabotage, and murder as the search for her cousin Boom Boom's killer leads her into the heart of Chicago's powerful shipping industry. "(V.I.) is wonderful company and a rich discovery awaiting those who have yet to meet her".--Los Angeles Times Book Review.
"V.I. Warshawski is one of the best . . . smart, tough, sexy."--Daily News (New York)

"Sara Paretsky makes excellent use of local backgrounds in a carefully plotted tale of murder and great misdeeds in the world of Great Lakes cargo shipping."--Chicago Tribune

When Chicago Black Hawks hockey legend Boom Boom Warshawski slips off a wharf and drowns in Lake Michigan, his private-eye cousin questions the accidental death report and rumors of suicide. Armed with a bottle of Black Label and a Smith & Weson, V.I. follows a trail of violence and corruption to the center of the Windy City's powerful shipping industry. Dodging elaborate attempts on her life with characteristic grit and humor, the one-of-a-kind detective wends her way through a maze of grain elevators and thousand-ton freighters, ruthless businessmen and gorgeous ballerinas, to ferret out Boom Boom's killers before they phase her out of the picture--permanently.

"Hard-boiled detective fiction . . . a swift-paced and engrossing read."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Slithers with suspense!"--Chicago Sun-Times