Customer Reviews

Flashman and the Mountain of Light

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4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

KILLING ORDERS is one of Paretsky's earlier V. I. Warshawski novels. In this case her aunt Rosa is accused by her church in committing stock fraud. She reluctantly asks her niece for her help in clearing her name.

I have read most of Warshawski's novels and this one is one of my favorites mainly because I got to learn more about her character as well as her relationship with her friend, Lotty. I regret having read them in disorder but I recommend this novel for anyone interested in learning how V. I. got started. Although this is the third novel in the series it tells a lot.

Very good, in fact. I don't think Paretsky had quite fashioned her own mold for the genre yet, so there are a few cliché elements in the book, but everything else is a highly original treat. Lots of great little twists throughout--not just plot twists, but different ways of looking at things. With V.I. Warshawski, Paretsky has created a heroine who is intelligent, engaging, and not afraid to shake things up. I haven't read much early V.I. yet, but I intend to, so I can get to know this woman from the beginning.

One of the first in Paretsky's V.I Warshawski series, Killing Orders involves stock fraud among the friars in a Chicago Dominican convent. When VI's less than beloved aunt, who works at the friary, is implicated, she calls in her niece to help her retain her good reputation. It's surprising how interesting a mystery about financial fraud can be in the hands of Sara Paretsky. VI (Victoria) is no pushover, and when the case grows personally intimidating, she digs in and resolves to break it no matter what or who she has to take on. Even if her new love interest is involved.....

I'm 150 pages+ in, and savoring every page. As a Chicagoan, am relishing the gritty descriptions of the city before the yuppification took over most neighborhoods. Paretsky eviscerates all preconceived ideas of the character and plot, there are surprises at almost every turn. Her character is complex and intellectual, by no means a silly read. I strongly recommend!

Sara Paretsky, Killing Orders (Signet, 1985)

Paretsky's third V. I. Warshawski novel begins with the plucky private eye responding to a plea for help from a relative she can't stand. When things start off this badly, you know they're not going to end well. So does Vic. But still, familial obligation pressures her to take the case of her awful Aunt Rosa, the treasurer at a local monastery, who (along with a number of others who work there) is under suspicion when a number of stock certificates in the office safe are found to be forgeries. Vic starts detecting, but Rosa does a one-eighty the next day and wants her to back off; soon after, her life is threatened by a mysterious caller if she doesn't get off the case. Put these two things together, and you can be sure Warshawski will see things through to the bitter, ugly end. With the help of Roger Ferrant, whom we first met in Deadlocked, and the everpresent Lotty, crime is standing on shaky ground in Chicago and its environs!

Well, not quite. Warshawski is one of hard-boiled-dom's more human detectives, and so far in the series, that hasn't shown through nearly as much as it does in this entry. Vic makes some bad choices, and her indecision leads others close to her to make bad choices for her. Of course, you have to throw in the everpresent roadblocks (Bobby Mallory being the most visible of them), and you've got all the ingredients for a very tasty, if foul, stew. There's a lot going on in this novel, and it sometimes seems as if Paretsky may have overextended herself; another reviewer comments that she doesn't think Paretsky "had quite fashioned her own mold for the genre yet" when this novel was written, and that's as fine a way of putting what's wrong with this novel-- especially coming right on the heels of the wonderful Deadlocked-- as any. There's no specific thing to put one's finger on, it's just a general feeling of "this isn't quite as good as it could be." Still, the core of the book is a good, solid mystery, and in the course of solving it, we get to learn more about some of the core characters in the series, so in the end, it does what it seems to have set out to do. ***

I like V.I. Warshawski. She no longer has her dog and her old apartment and apartment manager and I miss them. But she has new friends and "relatives" and enemies. I liked the book more than I thought I would. I give it 4 stars.

This is another fun page-turner in the V.I. Warshowski mystery series.

Forged stock certificates turn up in a monastery safe and V.I. must find out who, what, when and why. The characters include he bitter, hateful aunt and a sexy Ajax insurance executive. Ajax insurance has appeared in other V.I. books and is involved in this one as well.

There are many mean, unscrupulous men of the cloth and a cast of colorful, fun people and situations. Lots of scary, not so fun time for V.I. is to be had. The plot is interesting and this is an overall good mystery. Paretsky is an intelligent mystery lover's writer.

I'm typically not a fan of the more "hard-boiled" detective story, since the subgenre is so littered with cliches. However, I am a huge fan of conspiracy stories involving the Catholic Church, so I had to try this one out. And now I'm completely hooked on Paretsky and Warshawski. The writing is tight, the plot moves fast, the protagonist is clever and tough, yet also vulnerable in the right places, and the Archbishop gets blown up in the end! What more could anyone ask for?

I have been reading her books for years. This book, killing orders, is one of her first. It is not as good as her later ones, however, it is keeping my attention.

Would love to continue the series on the Kindle but this book is not available for Kindle download in the US!!??? Yet all the rest of the series is??