Written by Sara Paretsky
SUMMARY:
First released in 1985, Dell Publishing reprinted this third V.I. Warshawski mystery as a 339-page paperback in 1993. The plot is set in Chicago of January-early February 1984.
Once a public defender and now a private investigator for eight years, Victoria Iphigenia “V.I.” Warshawski reluctantly aids her long-estranged Italian relatives, elderly Great-Aunt Rosa and wimpy, forty-ish Cousin Albert. It appears that spiteful Rosa is implicated in the discovery of forged stock certificates possessed by a Dominican priory she works for. Worth millions, these missing stocks quickly draw attention from both the FBI and the SEC. V.I. later recruits her friend Lotty’s elderly Uncle Stefan to help bait the elusive counterfeiter.
Meanwhile, V.I.’s British boyfriend, business executive/reinsurance broker, Roger Ferant, is increasingly worried that an unknown entity intends to acquire one of his firm’s biggest American assets, Ajax Insurance, by nefarious means on the stock market. Once Albert dismisses V.I. from the forgery case, she suspiciously insists on digging deeper still.
Already contending with old emotional wounds, the ever-savvy V.I. soon finds herself entangled in multiple assaults, arson, and homicide. One taunting adversary evens threatens retaliation by blinding her with acid. With a trusted friend executed for discreetly probing local brokerage firms, this case becomes intensely personal for V.I.
Amidst the winter’s brutal cold, she senses a complicated financial scheme is making shadowy figures sweat in upper-echelon Chicago and possibly even overseas. Such steep odds means V.I. must rely on shrewd crime reporter Murray Rierson for help – especially as scrutinizing law enforcement would rather see her arrested. Desperately risking everything she has, V.I. expects a fight to the ruthless end, especially if the Catholic Church and the Chicago mob are involved.
Note: The ‘n’ word appears once in the text.
REVIEW:
For hard-boiled female detective fiction, Killing Orders concocts a fairly good read. Keeping in mind genre contrivances (i.e. several of V.I.’s associates are conveniently linked to the case), the increasingly convoluted storyline becomes perhaps too ambitious late in the game. Still, all the underlying sub-plots are neatly tidied up, as Sara Paretsky strives to make a perpetually snarky V.I. likable to readers.
For V.I. Warshawski fans, Killing Orders is a formulaic winner, but, for others, it’ll more likely be deemed as one-and-done.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
Along with a chapter list, Paretsky includes her acknowledgements.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 5½ Stars
