V.I. Warshawski, Sara Paretsky's tough-talking, dog-loving, justice-seeking private investigator has been missing in action since 1994, when she ratted out a big city political scandal on the streets of Chicago in Tunnel Vision. But now our Vic is back for her ninth adventure--a wee bit older, a tad more jaded, and as broke as ever. It all begins when Warshawski weasels an invitation to the hottest event in town, a glitzy party celebrating television's brightest new star, Lacey Dowell, or, as she's better known, the Mad Virgin. Vic's old pal (and one-time fling) Murray Ryerson now works for Global Enterprises, the corporate giant behind the Lacey sensation. On the way back from the party, Vic almost runs over a woman lying in the middle of the road, her Mad Virgin T-shirt soaked in blood from an earlier beating. The victim, Nicola Aguinaldo, dies in hospital, and Vic quickly realizes that a particularly nasty cop, Detective Lemour, intends to frame her for vehicular homicide. Her anger at these absurd charges hits the boiling point when Nicola's body disappears from the morgue before an autopsy can be carried out. Why was this woman, an escapee from the local Coolis prison, so important to Lemour? And why does the whole Mad Virgin phenomenon smell so rotten? "I didn't want to dive into Nicola Aguinaldo's wreck," V.I. grouses, "but it felt as though someone had climbed up behind me on the high board to give me a shove." In her search for answers, Warshawski runs afoul of Global Enterprises magnate Edmund Trant, and Robert Baladine, the head honcho of the nation's biggest security firm. They have enough clout to have V.I. thrown into Coolis for another crime she did not commit. But incarceration gives the resourceful Vic a perfect opportunity to snoop into Nicola's last days there--and uncover a sensational scandal.

As she has done throughout the series, Paretsky brilliantly juxtaposes strikingly different environments. Here she contrasts the dilapidated environs of the jail with the exorbitant homes of Chicago's filthy rich. In fact, readers who have anxiously awaited V.I. Warshawski's return will be glad to find that little has changed in her world. Mitch and Peppy the wonder dogs are as endearing as ever, her landlord, Mr. Contreras, is his normal fearless self, and V.I. is victorious. It really is like coming home. --Naomi Gesinger


From Publishers Weekly
V.I. Warshawski's first outing in five years begins with a party celebrating the TV debut of her reporter friend Murray Ryerson and attended by Lacey Dowell, Chicago native and star of Mad Virgin films. On the drive home, V.I. swerves to avoid hitting an injured young woman, who later dies. A hostile cop barges in the next day to question Vic about the "hit-and-run" of Nicola Aguinaldo, who seems to have escaped from the medical ward of Coolis, a privately operated prison in northwestern Illinois. Nicola was serving time for stealing a $50,000 necklace from her employers, the Baladines, owners of Carnifice Security, which operates state prisons. Vic gains access to the Baladine enclaveAwhere no one but the Baladine son, Robbie, seems concerned about Nicola's death. Then one of Lacey's childhood friends is found drowned. Things get even murkier when Robbie shows up at V.I.'s house and the PI is arrested and herself shipped off to Coolis to await bail. Suddenly powerless, V.I. learns how quickly freedom can be lost. But her faithful neighbor Mr. Contreras and her mentor Lotty, the activist doctor, never waver; further, unexpected support comes from an advocate for political prisoners and an inner-city priest. Illegal aliens, labor problems, political corruption and prison abuse all mix into the intrigue. Paretsky (Tunnel Vision) weaves a thread of loss though this journey to hell and back in which Vic ponders the death of her own mother and the end of a relationship, as well as the pain of those caught in the far-reaching tentacles of corrupt power. The use of short chapters with catchy, ironic titles keeps the action moving without giving too much away and helps to marshal the abundant characters and plot turns. Hurrah and welcome back, V.I.Aand Sara P. Major ad/promo; 9-city author tour. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
YA-Paretsky's incomparable private investigator solves many mysteries in this suspenseful thriller set in Chicago. The story begins as she drives friends home from a large party given by a multimedia conglomerate called Global Entertainment. As she takes a short cut through town, she narrowly misses a body in the road. The victim, a young woman, is barely breathing and brutally battered. As Warshawski begins to unravel the mystery of this woman, she becomes the chief suspect in the "hit-and-run." When the body disappears and she starts to investigate the situation on her own, she takes on the Chicago police, the CEOs of Global Entertainment, and guards at a women's prison. Her friends try desperately to pull her away from a dangerous situation, but the sleuth finds too many coincidences that don't make sense as she tries to clear her own name. This PI is tough, stubborn, passionate, and right. YAs will find her story riveting until the very end.Linda A. Vretos, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This ninth V.I. Warshawski novel finds the tough-talking private eye involved in yet another adventure. Framed for vehicular homicide and other charges and tossed into Coolis prison, Vic uses this opportunity to search for answers. In so doing she uncovers quite a scandal, one that stretches from the jailhouse to the mansions of Chicago. The contrast of the luxurious world of Global Enterprises and the harrowing environment of the women's prison make an indelible mark and turns this story into an ambitious but satisfying tale, with Jean Smart's clear reading contributing to its success. Highly recommended.-Denise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio
...tough prison scenes and frontal-assault that make this book her best.


From AudioFile
Sara Paretsky's latest adventure has the witty Warshawski entangled in a mystery she almost literally trips over. After attending an entertainment industry party honoring her friend, V.I. Warshawski stops to help a woman she sees lying in the street and is thrown into another mystery. Jean Smart really seems to have fun with this role, infusing Warshawski with caustic zings and a conversational tone that draws readers closer to the story and the characters. Credit is certainly due to Paretsky's easygoing style of dialogue, but it takes a perceptive performer to hone in on a heroine's human aspects. R.A.P. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Driving home one night from a party for Global Studio star Lacey Dowell (the Mad Virgin), V.I. Warshawski nearly runs over a woman dying on an Edgewater street. When Nicola Aguinaldo does die in the hospital Vic rushes her to, Chicago's finest come down on Vic like a ton of bricks, losing the accident report that would clear her, then the body itself before it can be autopsied. But Vic already knows that the undocumented Filipina who'd just escaped from Coolis Prison wasn't the victim of a hit-and-run: shed been kicked to death. How does her killing tie in to the crime that sent her to prisonstealing a necklace from Eleanor Baladine, whose husband Robert owns the behemoth security corporation that runs Coolis? Why was Nicola wearing a T-shirt made by Lacey Dowell's old friend Lucian Frenada, who keeps trying to get Lacey to cast a glance his way? Why does Global attorney Alexandra Fisher (formerly Vic's law school classmate Sandy Fishbein) want to hire Vic to keep Frenada off Lacey's back? And why, after Vic turns down the job, does non-swimmer Frenada wind up practicing his breaststroke in Belmont Harbor? Before Vic can come up with answers to all these questions, the bullies ranged against her trump up another charge that gets her thrown into Coolis herselfbut throughout her harrowing ordeals in the women's prison, you're never in doubt who's going to end up sorry. Since nobody needs more than one scene to make an indelible impression, Paretsky has room to build one of her most satisfyingly ambitious novels yet; not till it's all over do you realize how much of the solution you already knew. A triumphant return to form for V.I., who's come back from a five-year sabbatical (Tunnel Vision, 1994, etc.) as strong as Vladimir Horowitz. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
Praise for Sara Paretsky:

"Paretsky's books are beautifully paced and plotted, and the dialogue is fresh and smart."
--Newsweek

"Paretsky is still the best...she doesn't pull punches."
--The Washington Post Book World

"Sara Paretsky has hit the big time...she gets better and better!"
--Los Angeles Times Book Review


Review
Praise for Sara Paretsky:

"Paretsky's books are beautifully paced and plotted, and the dialogue is fresh and smart."
--Newsweek

"Paretsky is still the best...she doesn't pull punches."
--The Washington Post Book World

"Sara Paretsky has hit the big time...she gets better and better!"
--Los Angeles Times Book Review


Book Description
Among the first, and perhaps the most compelling, female private investigators of contemporary fiction, Sara Paretsky's incomparable character V. I. Warshawski at last returns to the page in her first full-length appearance since 1994's Tunnel Vision. Hard Time is the work of a master--a riveting novel of suspense that is indisputably Paretsky's best V.I. Warshawski novel yet. Multimedia conglomerate Global Entertainment has purchased the Chicago Herald-Star, forcing the paper's staff to scramble to stay employed. Reporter Murray Ryerson, V.I.'s longtime friend and sometime rival, manages to reinvent himself as the host of a television show on Global's network.

On her way home from a party celebrating Murray's debut, V.I. almost runs over a woman lying in the street. Stopping to help, V.I. soon learns that her Good Samaritan act will drop her squarely in a boiling intrigue. In a case that forces her to go head-to-head with one of the world's largest providers of private security and prison services, a case that exposes dark hidden truths behind the razzle-dazzle of the entertainment industry, V.I. will be ahead of the game if she gets out alive.





Download Description
Now in paper, the 8 week New York Times hardcover bestseller, "Hard Time", featuring Sara Paretsky's well-loved but not always lovable V.I. Warshawski, whose return has been widely celebrated. V.I. finds herself deep in the muddy terrain of Chicago's gritty underside, doing some "hard time" in prison.


From the Inside Flap
Among the first, and perhaps the most compelling, female private investigators of contemporary fiction, Sara Paretsky's incomparable character V. I. Warshawski at last returns to the page in her first full-length appearance since 1994's Tunnel Vision. Hard Time is the work of a master--a riveting novel of suspense that is indisputably Paretsky's best V.I. Warshawski novel yet. Multimedia conglomerate Global Entertainment has purchased the Chicago Herald-Star, forcing the paper's staff to scramble to stay employed. Reporter Murray Ryerson, V.I.'s longtime friend and sometime rival, manages to reinvent himself as the host of a television show on Global's network.

On her way home from a party celebrating Murray's debut, V.I. almost runs over a woman lying in the street. Stopping to help, V.I. soon learns that her Good Samaritan act will drop her squarely in a boiling intrigue. In a case that forces her to go head-to-head with one of the world's largest providers of private security and prison services, a case that exposes dark hidden truths behind the razzle-dazzle of the entertainment industry, V.I. will be ahead of the game if she gets out alive.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Among the first, and perhaps the most compelling, female private investigators of contemporary fiction, Sara Paretsky's incomparable character V. I. Warshawski at last returns to the page in her first full-length appearance since 1994's Tunnel Vision. Hard Time is the work of a master--a riveting novel of suspense that is indisputably Paretsky's best V.I. Warshawski novel yet. Multimedia conglomerate Global Entertainment has purchased the Chicago Herald-Star, forcing the paper's staff to scramble to stay employed. Reporter Murray Ryerson, V.I.'s longtime friend and sometime rival, manages to reinvent himself as the host of a television show on Global's network.

SYNOPSIS

Among the first, and perhaps the most compelling, female private investigators of contemporary fiction, Sara Paretsky's incomparable character V. I. Warshawski at last returns to the page in her first full-length appearance since 1994's Tunnel Vision.

FROM THE CRITICS

Toby Bromberg - Romantic Times

With a suspenseful, hard-hitting plot and numerous twists and turns, Hard Time shows Sara Paretsky at top form. This emotionally charged tale will grab your interest immediately and not let you go￯﾿ﾽone of the season￯﾿ﾽs hottest reads.

Publishers Weekly

V.I. Warshawski's first outing in five years begins with a party celebrating the TV debut of her reporter friend Murray Ryerson and attended by Lacey Dowell, Chicago native and star of Mad Virgin films. On the drive home, V.I. swerves to avoid hitting an injured young woman, who later dies. A hostile cop barges in the next day to question Vic about the "hit-and-run" of Nicola Aguinaldo, who seems to have escaped from the medical ward of Coolis, a privately operated prison in northwestern Illinois. Nicola was serving time for stealing a $50,000 necklace from her employers, the Baladines, owners of Carnifice Security, which operates state prisons. Vic gains access to the Baladine enclave--where no one but the Baladine son, Robbie, seems concerned about Nicola's death. Then one of Lacey's childhood friends is found drowned. Things get even murkier when Robbie shows up at V.I.'s house and the PI is arrested and herself shipped off to Coolis to await bail. Suddenly powerless, V.I. learns how quickly freedom can be lost. But her faithful neighbor Mr. Contreras and her mentor Lotty, the activist doctor, never waver; further, unexpected support comes from an advocate for political prisoners and an inner-city priest. Illegal aliens, labor problems, political corruption and prison abuse all mix into the intrigue. Paretsky (Tunnel Vision) weaves a thread of loss though this journey to hell and back in which Vic ponders the death of her own mother and the end of a relationship, as well as the pain of those caught in the far-reaching tentacles of corrupt power. The use of short chapters with catchy, ironic titles keeps the action moving without giving too much away and helps to marshal the abundant characters and plot turns. Hurrah and welcome back, V.I.--and Sara P. Major ad/promo; 9-city author tour. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This ninth V.I. Warshawski novel finds the tough-talking private eye involved in yet another adventure. Framed for vehicular homicide and other charges and tossed into Coolis prison, Vic uses this opportunity to search for answers. In so doing she uncovers quite a scandal, one that stretches from the jailhouse to the mansions of Chicago. The contrast of the luxurious world of Global Enterprises and the harrowing environment of the women's prison make an indelible mark and turns this story into an ambitious but satisfying tale, with Jean Smart's clear reading contributing to its success. Highly recommended.--Denise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

School Library Journal

YA-Paretsky's incomparable private investigator solves many mysteries in this suspenseful thriller set in Chicago. The story begins as she drives friends home from a large party given by a multimedia conglomerate called Global Entertainment. As she takes a short cut through town, she narrowly misses a body in the road. The victim, a young woman, is barely breathing and brutally battered. As Warshawski begins to unravel the mystery of this woman, she becomes the chief suspect in the "hit-and-run." When the body disappears and she starts to investigate the situation on her own, she takes on the Chicago police, the CEOs of Global Entertainment, and guards at a women's prison. Her friends try desperately to pull her away from a dangerous situation, but the sleuth finds too many coincidences that don't make sense as she tries to clear her own name. This PI is tough, stubborn, passionate, and right. YAs will find her story riveting until the very end.-Linda A. Vretos, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

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