No one would accuse V. I. Warshawski of backing down from a fight, but there are a few she'd be happy to avoid. High on that list is tangling with Chicago political bosses, yet that's precisely what she ends up doing when she responds to Frank Guzzo's plea for help. For six stormy weeks back in high school, V.I. thought she was in love with Frank who broke up with her and started driving trucks for Bagby Haulage. She forgot about him until the day his mother was convicted of bludgeoning his kid sister, to death. Stella Guzzo was an angry, uncooperative prisoner and did a full twenty-five years for her daughter's murder. Newly released from prison, Stella is looking for exoneration, which leads to Frank asking V.I. for help.
V.I. doesn't want to get involved, especially since Stella hated the Warshawskis. Ultimately V.I. agrees to ask a few questions but when she takes a beating at a youth meeting in her old hood, her main question becomes whether she will live long enough to find answers. In Brush Back, the latest novel of the V.I. Warshawski series Sara Paretsky focuses on V.I. Warshawski as she confronts crooked politicians and buried family secrets.
Sara Paretsky is the author of twenty books, including the renowned V. I. Warshawski novels. Named 2011 Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, and a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award given by the British Crime Writers Association, she is president of the Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Chicago.