Sara Paretsky Book Page

She lives Chicago, and her adventures give Paretsky an opportunity to give a detailed sense of Vic's environment. One of the great joys for crime readers is the use of the setting as a character, and a clue, not just background. Finely drawn characters with strengths and weaknesses, and actual lives and relationships, as well as homes and places of work are the hallmark of this genre.

The female dick has become almost a cliche, so much so that Sisters in Crime have asked those submitting to this year's Scarlett Stiletto short story competition to try other variations.

V.I. is single, in the early volumes she is still struggling to get her late father's police buddies to accept that being a wife-and-mother isn't much of a career for an intelligent woman.

Her parent's legacy (mother half-Italian half-Jewish, father Polish) is mixed. From her mother she learnt opera, and she finds relief in a few scales. Vic jogs in lieu of dieting.

The stories are prefaced by acknowledgements that lead one to believe that the details come from research. I can't judge since I haven't been to Chicago except in the odd film or book. Perhaps a reader who has visited/lived in Chicago can help?