Body Work (V.I. Warshawski Novel) [Hardcover]

Sara Paretsky (Author)

Book Description

Series: V.I. Warshawski Novel | Publication Date: August 31, 2010

The audacious new V. I. Warshawski novel from the New York Times-bestselling author.

The enigmatic performer known as the Body Artist takes the stage at Chicago's Club Gouge and allows her audience to use her naked body as a canvas for their impromptu illustrations. V. I. Warshawski watches as people step forward, some meek, some bold, to make their mark.

The evening takes a strange turn when one woman's sketch triggers a violent outburst from a man at a nearby table. Quickly subdued, the man-an Iraqi war vet-leaves the club. Days later, the woman is shot outside the club. She dies in V.I.'s arms, and the police move quickly to arrest the angry vet.

A shooting in Chicago is nothing new, certainly not to V.I., who is hired by the vet's family to clear his name. As V.I. seeks answers, her investigation will take her from the North Side of Chicago to the far reaches of the Gulf War.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Paretsky's superb 14th novel featuring PI V.I. Warshawski (after Hardball) delves into Chicago's avant-garde art scene. At the trendy Club Gouge, where Warshawski is keeping an eye on Petra, a young cousin who caused trouble in the previous book, performance artist Karen Buckley (aka the Body Artist) invites members of the audience to step on stage to paint her nude body. The intricate design that one woman paints on Karen's back provokes a violent outburst from Chad Vishneski, a troubled Iraqi war veteran. When two nights later, someone shoots the woman who upset Chad outside the club, Chad is the logical murder suspect. Hired by Chad's estranged parents to clear his name, Warshawski straddles a minefield that reaches from the Windy City's neighborhoods to the Gulf War battlefields. Scenes with her aging neighbor and a new love interest give a much needed balance to the serious plot. This strong outing shows why the tough, fiercely independent, dog-loving private detective continues to survive.
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From Bookmarks Magazine

V. I. Warshawski is "like Spider-Man with a P.I. License," claimed the Chicago Sun-Times of its home-based heroine, and critics agreed that, despite her age, Warshawski is no Miss Marple. Reviewers had little but praise for this newest entry in the popular series; of particular note is Paretsky's deep exploration of social and political issues--notably, homophobia; domestic violence; and the misdeeds spawned by the Iraq War. However, critics diverged in their opinion of these thematic strands. The Los Angeles Times called the plotting "ingenious," while the New York Times Book Review described it as "bloated." For readers interested in a complex, multistrand story, Body Work is another thoughtful, timely entry in the series.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (August 31, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399156747
• ISBN-13: 978-0399156748
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sara Paretsky is the award-winning creator of the V I Warshawski detective novels. When Sara introduced V I in Indemnity Only in 1982, she revolutionized the mystery novel. By creating a female investigator who uses her wits as well a her fists, Sara challenged a genre in which women were traditionally either vamps or victims.

V I is the quintessential urban woman. She grew up in the shadow of the old steel mills on Chicago's Southeast side and knows her way around every alley in town. She's a street fighter, a singer, a bit of a clothes horse, and a woman of great intensity and passion.

So how much like V I is her creator? They certainly come from very different places. Sara grew up in rural Kansas where she attended a two-room school. She continues to believe the high point of her life came at the age of twelve when she was picked to play third base for the Kaw Valley District 95 baseball team.

Bleeding Kansas, Sara's 14th novel, is set in the part of the Kaw River Valley where Sara grew up.

Sara first came to Chicago in 1966 to do community service work in the same neighborhood where Martin Luther King was organizing. It was a time of fierce passions in the city and in the country as people fought over racial justice, the rights and wrongs of the war in Vietnam, and women's rights. Sara has always felt that that summer changed her life forever, and when she finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas, she came back to make Chicago her home. Some of the history of that summer is recounted in her essay collection, Writing in an Age of Silence.

Like V I, Sara likes to sing, in an amateur way, has a hopeless passion for the Cubs, loves Italian shoes'and is obsessed by the search for the perfect cappuccino, so much so that she even went to cappuccino school.

In other academic ventures, Sara received a PhD in American History and an MBA from the University of Chicago. In 1976, she married physics professor Courtenay Wright. The two live in the city of Chicago with their wonder dog Callie. Their lives are made brighter by their adored granddaughter, Maia.

Sara shares V I's passion for social justice. She founded Sisters in Crime in 1986 to support women readers and writers in the mystery world. To give back to the community, Paretsky established the Sara and Two C-Dogs Foundation, which primarily supports girls and women in the arts, letters, and sciences. She has endowed several scholarships at the University of Kansas, and has mentored students in Chicago's inner city schools. She serves on the advisory boards of Literature for All of Us, a literacy group for teen moms, and Thresholds, which serves Chicago's mentally-ill homeless.

Sara has received numerous awards, including the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers Association, the Gold Dagger for best novel for her book Blacklist, and the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from several different universities. Sara's books have been translated into almost thirty languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another strong Chicago book by Sara Paretsky..., September 2, 2010

By 

Jill Meyer (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Body Work (V.I. Warshawski Novel) (Hardcover)

It's a little difficult to describe Sara Paretsky's on-going V I Warshawski series to someone who's new to her work. Paretsky has been writing the Warshawski series for about 20 years or so, as well as at least one stand-alone book. Her writing, her characters, her settings, her crimes are unlike any other contemporary mystery writer I've read.

Her latest, "Body Work", is not an easy book to read. I think it's the edgiest of all her novels; the center around whom the story revolves is a "body artist", working out of a Chicago night-club. The "body artist", called here "the Body Artist" is a murky figure who allows customers to paint on her naked body. The images are sent world-wide on a web-cam. The plot of "Body Work" has the standard murders, bad guys, the internet, the war in Iraq, a Blackwater-like company which provides mercenary services in Iraq, sexuality issues, and many more plot points. Paretsky does a good job in laying out the plot and then tidily cleaning it all up again. But in the background of the plot are the issues of V I Warshawski herself.

Vic is a long-time private-eye in Chicago. She's gone through many cases, ably written up by Sara Paretsky, who brings her character along in personal development in each book. Many of the same characters show up in the books; Vic's family members, her neighbor-and-protector, Mr Contreras, various friends and lovers, and, of course, her two dogs, Mitch and Peppy. Paretsky has brought her character from a hard-scrabble childhood as the only child of a Polish Catholic policeman-father and an Italian Jewish opera singer-mother. Her first books were set in that odd Chicago area of the southeast side of Chicago, with the various ethnic groups jockeying for space. The power of Paretsky's writing, in those books, was the diversity Chicago is known for. The settings of the later books have moved to the northside of Chicago and the villains have subtly changed to large corporations - Blackwater, Wal-Mart - who are a blight on our society, in Paretsky's view. (She's not wrong). She regularly brings up societal issues not examined in other fiction.

I felt this book was a little over-written. It could have been a little shorter and more concise. Of course, I'm comparing it to her back-list. It is a good book and an enjoyable one, particularly for long-time Paretsky fans.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Enough of Petra, October 25, 2010

By 

toonin (Hacienda Heights, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Body Work (V.I. Warshawski Novel) (Hardcover)

Somebody else noted that after two books where she is a significant character, Warshawski's niece, Petra, is becoming a little too annoying. It didn't take two books for me. I found her very annoying in her first appearance and, when, I discovered her in this book as well, it was an irritating let-down. I have read all of the Warshawski books and own most of them. I obviously am a Sara Paretsky fan; however, I found this book to generally be a mess. Warshawski's continuing involvement in the main crime and her insistence at pursuing certain aspects of it that I won't ruin by revealing them here were a genuine puzzlement. The "Body Artist" character and the dynamics of her performance seemed almost ludicrous beginning with the artist's title. She also seemed oddly dated to me. She was supposed to be cutting edge but, instead, seemed kind of 70s. Likewise, another effort at edginess, and a much smaller detail, having a musician play heavy metal music on a hurdy gurdy clanged. Too many characters, too many plot threads, and, although the effort is evident on Paretsky's part, (she didn't just dash this off) too much longing on my part for the quality I found in her books previous to the last two.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the reason so few engage in it." Henry Ford, January 23, 2011

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Body Work (V.I. Warshawski Novel) (Hardcover)

There is a body artist who works in a Chicago nightclub. She permits customers to paint her naked body on stage. Her image is posted on a web-cam which she later sells to the public.

While at the club, V.I. Warshawski witnesses an ugly incident where a young painter creates intricate designs on the body artist. Then, an intoxicated man makes certain accusations and is asked to leave the club. Later, Vic witnesses a shouting match between the painter and the club patron, outside the club.

Later, the painter is murdered in the alley beside the club and the intoxicated man, Chad Visneski, is arrested and accused of her murder.

Chad's father tells Vic that his son, Chad, is an Iraq vet who suffers from PTSD but doesn't think that his son would gun down a defenseless woman so he hires Vic to clear Chad's name.

There is something going on at the club, Vic learns that the owner of the club is in financial difficulty and that Anton Kystarnik loaned her money and now has gained an interest in the club.

Vic turns up a lead on the body artist's identity. Her name is Karin Buckley and Vic wants to find her to learn what she may know about what went on at the club.

The plot is complex and tightly connected so that the reader will be entertained.

Spoiler (Vic hires her niece Perta and a number of Iraq vets. The story takes an interesting turn when events that happened in Iraq are brought to life. There is a question that U.S. contractors might have issued faulty equipment to their employees and sold the equipment to the government. Then the company tried to bribe the families of the fallen employees so they wouldn't discuss what went on in Iraq.)

The minor characters are also appealing as one of the vets, staff sergeant Marty Jepson is wonderfully described and seems to be an ideal son. Another old friend is at the scene as Vic's elderly friend and protector, Mr. Contreras makes his appearance and his manner adds a realistic and personal touch as does young Clara Guaman, who is a character who we see develop during the story.

The novel was overly long and could use some tightening up. I rate it as a 3 1/2 star but move to 4 star due to the the finely interwoven plot and engaging characters.