Customer Reviews

Indemnity Only (BBC Audio Collection)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

She's as tough as nails, a real smart cookie and she's taking on the Chicago crime scene. Her name is V.(ictoria) I.(phigenia) Warshawski, a contemporary private eye investigating white-collar corruption in the heartland of America. Sara Pareksky has created a female character in her series of books that can rival Mickey Spillane or Mike Hammer in her toughness and wisecracking. Indemnity Only is the first V. I. Warshawski novel written by Pareksky. In this novel she finds herself employed by her client to find his son's missing girlfriend and instead finds the son,and he's dead. Soon she finds herself embroiled with union leaders, mob killings and insurance fraud, as well as continuing her hunt for the young woman whose life may be in jeopardy. This is a novel that will hold the interest of those of us from the babyboomer generation as we relate to Warshawkski's return to her college alma mater. Read this novel for a great introduction to V. I. Warshawski.

After a late night visit from a client asking her to find a missing girl, V. I. Warshawski finds the body of a collage student shot in the head at his kitchen table. V. I., Vick, as her friends call her, has a mystery to unravel. The first thing she unravels is that nobody appears to be who he or she says they are.

I truly enjoyed this book. V.I. Warshawski was a wonderful character. Ms. Paretsky did a wonderful job at making her colorful and humorous. Indeed, Ms. Paretsky made all of the characters good. This book, though a little on the older side was the first in the V. I. Warshawski series. Not possessing the extreme descriptions that so many authors in this genre feel needs to be included, Ms. Paretsky described people, places and things providing enough information without overkill.

Ms. Peters (reader) also did a wonderful job at bringing characters to life. Though the male characters weren't overpowering, (tough for a female to do a male characters voice), the female characters were all outstanding, including that of Jill the 14-year girl.

This was my first experience with Ms. Paretsky and found it enjoyable. Being one who listens to many audio books while commuting to/from work. I found this book enjoyable and certainly plan on trying others by Ms. Paretsky.

This is the book that introduces us to V.I. Warshawski, possibly the toughest female private investigator in the game. She is hired by an influential businessman to find his son and his son's girlfriend. It doesn't take long before she finds the son dead, the man who hired her wasn't whom he said he was, and she's had the proverbial beaten out of her as a warning to drop the case. V.I. is another one of those private investigators that, once hired, will stop at nothing to solve the case. Although she's told by her original client that he no longer requires her services, she persists like a dog with a bone, determined to see the case through to it's conclusion.

The setting is Chicago and it's summer, so we're given a lot of speculation on how the Cubs are going to fare that year. Now, I'm from Australia, but even I know that the season's only going to end in disappointment...again. (No offence sports fans).

This is another enjoyable private investigator book with a good, hard as nails protagonist. I have no problem recommending this to anyone who enjoys the Robert Parker "Spenser" series or the Robert Crais "Elvis Cole" series.

After reading JM Redmann's wonderful Death by the Riverside featuring MIckey Knight, I was so vividly taken with the strong female character that I just had to re-read the other strong female character that I love: VI Warshawsky. Like Knight, Warshawsky is a tough cookie who can hurt, a smart woman who makes human mistakes, and a real pain... for friends who wish she wouldn't get herself into such danger.

Paretsky's gift in storytelling is the way she takes a small incident and lets it mushroom until seemingly unrelated incidents form the picture of a larger, uglier tale. Warshawsky herself is complicated and richly textured character and I loved revisiting her.

I've read most of the V.I. Warshawski series as they were released and thought I know Vic pretty well. However, this first book in the series proved an unexpected source of new insights on one of the leading ladies of PI fiction. Some of it was simply background stuff. More interesting was just getting a sense of who she is and why she ticks.

The mystery is interesting enough. A University of Chicago student has gone missing. Before she can blink, VI is immersed in a murder mystery with links to big insurance, a sleazy union and a very dangerous mobster. Still, her sarcastic humor and basic good heart come through as we tour greater Chicago. The pages turn easily.

Bottom line: Certainly a good read for those who are new to the series and not a bad read for longtime fans.

I am a late-comer to the V.I. Warshawski series. I'd known about for years, but after seeing the dreadful Kathleen Turner movie version, I decided to skip the books. Stupid me! I've only read this first book, but I have to say I'm hooked. The character of V.I. Warshawski is probably one of the best female P.I. characters out there. Sara Paretsky has written strong, three dimensional female that you can easily become attached to. The plot of this first book was a little choppy, but the author's understanding of Chicago -- the lay of the land, the police, the politics -- makes up for any shortcomings. Bravo job! I look forward to reading the entire series.

Unfortunately this was not my first VI book but fortunately I enjoyed "Killing Orders" and "Bitter Medicine" enough to look further. I was not disappointed with the my reintroduction. Ms. Warshawski is an appealing character to mystery readers, women, Chicagoans (?), and anyone who enjoys reading about a tough, intelligent woman rooting out the bad guys. Not much of a mystery reader? I don't really consider myself one and have enjoyed it immensly. Give it a try.

A great series, that actually starts off strong. Some of her next novels fall short, some are better. Unless you fall head over heels for Paretsky, I would read other reviews to see which ones are better, and skip the 'read-in-order' process.
I read this around the time that that awful movie with Kathleen Turner came out, but through so-so books and a bad movie, I'm still a fan. That has to say something about Mrs. Paretsky.

The first book was like the movie. Characters, lines and situations were very familiar. I liked this book due to those facts but then I also like the character V.I. herself so I would continue reading the series.

I found this book to be entertaining and I enjoyed it except for some of the typos. For example: "the row of glasses disolved into a pooh of red blood, it way my mother's......."? What ever happened to proofreaders?