Sara Paretsky

Press Room

Here’s where you can find media and press materials about Sara Paretsky. For press-related contact information, check the Contact page.

A Letter from Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton’s a fan of Total Recall. (He even passed his copy on the Hillary when he finished it.) Here's his letter.

Reviews
You can find reviews for each book on each of their pages. But here are some of the best reviews.

On Bleeding Kansas:
Bestseller Paretsky, who has tackled weighty issues in her V.I. Warshawski detective series (e.g., the Holocaust in Total Recall), weaves a gripping contemporary novel around three farm families—the Grelliers, Fremantles and Schapens—that can trace their Kaw Valley, Kans., roots back to the 1850s, a time of violent clashes between antislavery and proslavery forces in “Bleeding Kansas.” Their shared history is no buffer against the storm of changes that begin with the arrival of Gina Haring, a lesbian Wiccan. Chip Grellier, after being expelled from high school, enlists in the army and is killed in Iraq with devastating effects on his family. The Schapens’ fundamentalist doctrines come to the fore when they discover “a perfect red heifer” in their dairy herd that may be a path to riches as well as to the second coming. Meanwhile, Gina stirs prejudices and passions to a fever pitch. Paretsky taps a different vein and strikes gold in this timely tale of fear and conflict in heartland America. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

On Fire Sale:
Warshawski's tense, sharp 11th shows that you really can go home. — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Packed with social themes and moral energy, held together by humor, compassion and sheer feistiness, this novel shows why Paretsky and her heroine are such enduring figures in American detective fiction. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

On Blacklist:
The dependable delights of a Warshawski novel are also in abundant supply: witty dialogue, Warshawski's “bad girl” behavior when confronted by authority, taut action scenes, sharp social commentary and the return visits of series regulars like Lotty Herschel and the always fretting Mr. Contreras. The real triumph of Blacklist, however, is the intelligence it brings to bear on the once again urgent issues of political dissent and national security: Whatever your views on those subjects, this is a provocative mystery that should prompt you to examine them more rigorously.
— Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post

On Total Recall:
Dark, absorbing, probing Paretsky’s novel explores the complex web of degrees of guilt and complicity surrounding the fate of Holocaust victims and survivors, with Lotty’s story emerging with compelling, terrible clarity and inevitability.
— Publishers Weekly

You can’t accuse Sara Paretsky of resting on her laurels. Total Recall is written with the stylistic verve and intellectual energy of a writer just coming into her own. — The New York Times

On Hard Time:
This is the best Warshawski novel ever and well worth waiting for. Brilliantly plotted, full of heart-wrenching emotion, packed with fast-paced action, and peopled with richly complex characters. — Booklist (starred)

...and one of her most satisfying ambitious novels yet...A triumphant return to form for V I, who's come back from a five-year sabbatical. — Kirkus Reviews (starred)

On Tunnel Vision:
Complex, satisfying …Paretsky’s V I is a rare literary entity, a woman quick to anger and action, yet sympathetic and credible. — Publishers Weekly

Articulate and independent…Warshawski never wears thin.
— San Francisco Chronicle

On Burn Marks:
It’s nice to see that success agrees with some people. Sara Paretsky, in her sixth mystery featuring Chicago detective V I Warshawski, just keeps getting better. For some popular writers, success breeds complacency and sloppiness, but Ms. Paretsky continues to hone her writing and the characterization of her protagonist. — Journal Constitution (Atlanta)

On Blood Shot:
Sara Paretsky is daring: in her fifth V I Warshawski mystery, she risks making her popular heroine, Chicago's tenderest hard-boiled private investigator, less likable. The result: her best book yet. — Newsweek

The fifth and finest in Paretsky's praised series...is a gripping, entertaining story. — Publishers Weekly