One of the first female PIs to gain popularity with the reading public, Paretsky's V I Warshawski is very much the late 70s/early 80s image of a tough female character. Hard hitting, tough talking, she takes on a client who wants her to find his missing daughter, only to find herself embroiled in murder, fraud and a complex web of betrayal and counter-betrayal.
When read today some of the dialogue seems stilted and there is some debate in the text about the aims of feminism, but the story itself keeps moving and Warshawski has an engaging voice, which carries the reader along with her, making it easy to see why the series has such enduring popularity.