Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel (USA 2022)

From the Publisher:
New York Times Bestseller: A Chicago PI trying to help her elderly neighbors ends up tangled in politics and a murder in this "fast-paced, complicated mystery" (New York Daily News).

V.I. "Vic" Warshawski and her neighbor share responsibility for a currently pregnant dog -- but Mr. Contreras complains that her detective work keeps her too busy to help with little Peppy. Still, that doesn't stop him from adding more to her plate by asking her to investigate the disappearance of his friend, a fellow retiree. At the same time, Vic's trying to look out for a vulnerable eighty-year-old down the street whose property is considered an eyesore by the newcomers gentrifying the neighborhood. When Mr. Contreras's friend turns up dead in a canal, and the old lady on the block winds up in the hospital, Vic is swept into a world of organized labor, money, and politics -- and discovers a distressing personal connection to the case. Vic may not always succeed as a guardian angel -- but when things go wrong, she can chase down the demons -- in this suspenseful novel from the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and "crime-fiction pro" (People).

"Paretsky's emphasis on character comes at no expense of action: Vic's investigation is as physical as it is mental, taking her inside Chicago's industrial world and up against bad guys who use everything from bats to heavy machinery to thwart her. Among today's PIs, nobody comes close to Warshawski." -- Publishers Weekly
"The richest and most engaging yet of Ms. Paretsky's thrillers." -- The New York Times
"Densely textured, adroitly plotted." -- Kirkus Reviews
"One monster of a plot." -- Booklist Read Less

Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel. A V.I. Warshawski Mystery. Mysterious Press / Open Road Media, ISBN: 9781504074346 (February, 2022), 428 S., $18.99, eBook $9.99.

Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel (UK 2013)

From the Publisher:
The seventh novel in the V.I. Warhawski crime series, set in Chicago, from prize-winning author Sara Paretsky.
V.I. Warshawski's Chicago neighbourhood is prospering. As it's out with the old and in with the new, long-term residents like elderly Hattie Frizell find themselves viciously under threat...

But that's not all that's troubling V.I. When the body of her neighbour's friend is found washed up in the Sanitary Canal, her investigations lead her to uncover a world of corporate conspiracy and political corruption involving some of Chicago's most prestigious industrial players. And after several attempts on her life, it seems that this time, V.I. may have dug too deep ...

Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel. Some secrets can never be buried... A V.I. Warhawski Novel. Hodder Paperbacks, ISBN: 9781444761481 (January, 2013), 437 S., £7.99.

Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel (USA 1993)

From the Publisher:
Underneath V. I. Warshawski's wisecracking P.I. exterior lies a real pushover. When elderly neighbor Mr. Contreras asks her to look into a fellow union retiree's sudden disappearance, she says "yes" from her heart, not her head. And when a crotchety eighty-year-old dog-owner starts wrangling with a Yuppie-Come-Lately couple on their blue-collar street, again, it's V. I. to the rescue.

GUARDIAN ANGEL

Only it all goes to hell in a handbasket when Mr. Yuppie turns out to be a lawyer in V. I.'s ex-husband's law firm, and the missing retiree turns up floating facedown in a canal. And now V. I.'s strapping on her shoulder holster to snoop into Chicago's labor unions and politicos because being on the side of the angels won't win her any halos... but it's the perfect place for an encounter with violent death.

Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel. A V.I. Warhawski Mystery. Dell Publishing, ISBN: 0440213991 (January, 1993), 417 S., $5.99.

Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel (USA 1992)

From the Publisher:
Racine Avenue is going upscale - bad news for hand-to-mouth residents like V. I. Warshawski. As tax bills skyrocket, newcomers pressure old inhabitants into fixing up their homes or moving out. To the yuppies on the block the worst eyesore belongs to old Hattie Frizell, whose yard is "returning to native prairie, complete with hubcaps." Their block club wants her and her five dogs gone.

V. I. and Hattie have a relationship of sorts: one of those five dogs gave V. I.'s dog Peppy an unwelcome litter. When Hattie slips in her bath and is rushed unconscious to the hospital, V. I. feels compelled to get involved. But neighboring lawyer Todd Pichea and his wife, Chrissie, act swiftly to get the courts to make them Hattie's legal guardians. V. I. returns from a business trip to find they've put the old woman's dogs to sleep. Furious, V. I. starts poking around in the Picheas' affairs, hoping to turn up something scandalous enough to make them lose their guardianship.

Hattie isn't the detective's only worry. When her downstairs neighbor's oldest friend disappears, Mr. Contreras persuades V. I. to investigate. As she probes both problems, V. I. uncovers a scandal linking one of Chicago's oldest industrial families to union fraud and a politically connected bank. Her investigation takes her into the depths of the steamy Sanitary Canal and brings her eyeball-to-eyeball with her ex-husband, Dick Yarborough. When her dear friend Lotty Herschel and her own lawyer turn against her, V. I. is left alone to struggle with the most serious case of her career.

Guardian Angel, the seventh in Sara Paretsky's bestselling series, proves once again that V.I. Warshawski is "America's most convincing and engaging female private eye" (Entertainment Weekly).

Sara Paretsky lives in Chicago with her husband and their golden retriever.

Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel. A V.I. Warhawski Novel. Delacorte Press, ISBN: 0385299311 (February, 1992), 370 S., $20.00.