Body Work

'Superb' (Publishers Weekly)

With the creation of V.I. Warshawski, Sara Paretsky did more than anyone to change the face of contemporary women's fiction. (Express on Sunday)

'Within a racial melting pot, Paretsky hits her own personal best; HARDBALL takes the thinking woman's detective to a new level of excellence' (Financial Times Weekend)

'Sara Paretsky is on top form . . . HARDBALL is a haunting novel, skilfully combining power politics and intensely personal events' (Joan Smith, Sunday Times)

'The thing about Sara Paretsky is, she's tough . . . she doesn't flinch from examining old social injustices others might find too shameful (and too painful) to dig up' (New York Times on HARDBALL)

'Paretsky has evoked - and celebrated - the multiplicity of Chicago's neighbourhoods, its old and new immigrants and its tragic history of race relations; and these years of America's financial and political decadence seem to have rekindled her passion for social justice.' (Times Literary Supplement on HARDBALL)

'HARDBALL is a big, chewy, old-fashioned yarn about a P.I. looking into a sprawling, decade-spanning web of police corruption. But when it's this entertaining, there's nothing wrong with that at all' (Metro)

'She is writing with the kind of passion for social justice that inspired Chandler and Hammett . . . a narrative as gripping as it is emotionally wrenching.' (Joan Smith, The Sunday Times)

'Some crime series grow stale over time, but there's no sign of fatigue here. This is partly because the recurring characters continue to develop and engage the reader, and partly because of the moral intelligence that informs the writing.' (Spectator)

'Details are so rich and the dialogue so snappy that the mystery whizzes by.' (Guardian)