Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky

PAY DIRT by Sara Paretsky is book number 22 in the much-loved V.I. Warshawski series. Although the majority of private investigator Warshawski’s adventures have been in Chicago, Paretsky chose to set this mystery primarily in Lawrence, Kansas – where Paretsky grew up, home of the University of Kansas Jayhawks, and an area that experienced significant violence over slavery’s legality prior to the Civil War. As readers will discover, there are certainly flashbacks and relevance for some historical events in the mid-1800s. In the present day, however, Warshawski is battling her own demons after the death of her lover’s student. She is, surprisingly, a mere shadow of her former highly resilient self. Locating and helping a drug-addicted college student goes some way towards recovery – she even accepts a new case but is then abruptly fired and forced to confront the discovery of another body. Under suspicion for murder and feeling off her game, Warshawski persists and utilizes her full coterie of supporters – Lotty, Mr. Contreras, Murray, and locals from Lawrence, including an aspiring journalist and two scrapyard operators – to fight corruption, greed, and evil.

Paretsky cites two recent books as influencing her writing in PAY DIRT. One, The Agitators by Dorothy Wickenden focuses on the lives of Harriet Tubman, Frances Seward, and Martha Wright as they fight for abolition and women’s rights. I plan to review it here soon. The second, This Is Not Dixie by Brent M. S. Campney, is an academic work about the racist violence in Kansas from 1861 to 1927 published by University of Illinois Press. I was amazed to learn that Paretsky “wrote and discarded seven drafts before arriving at the storyline that makes up the book.” Her hard work is evident and fans will truly appreciate another great mystery filled with danger and suspense.