I'm a big fan of V.I. Warshawski and this, her latest outing, is her best. The seamy underbelly of South Chicago with its struggling families, lack of resources (social and crimefighting) and dominance by a ruthless family owned retail conglomerate is brought fully to life by Sara Paretsky's deft characterisations. V.I. remains a very human heroine and, despite surviving some nasty injuries in pretty much every book, does appear to be aging both physically and in wisdom as the series progresses.
Our story begins with V.I. being unwillingly drafted in to coach a girls' basketball team at her old high school. One of the girls mothers works at Fly the Flag, a flag manufacturing company employing local workers. She becomes concerned about operations and asks to see V.I., then inexplicably changes her mind. In classic private eye style, V.I. never lets a question go unanswered and the action takes off from there.
Fire Sale is sufficiently informative about the relationships between V.I. and the regular cast members to stand alone as a novel. The fine balance between educating the novice reader and not boring the regulars is well handled and we find more tidbits about V.I.'s prior relationship with Rawlings as well as her current amour, Morrell. Highly recommended both for regular readers of the series and for those who enjoy the private eye genre.