I attended Sara Paretsky’s last UK public event on her latest book tour which was held at Sandhurst Public Library. I have been reading about her fictional hero, V.I. Warshawski, since her first book, Indemnity Only, was published in the UK in 1982.
I arrived 30 minutes early, after the tip from one of the librarians to be there early and not only get a good seat but to be able to take photographs. Then the evening event started and after everyone had settled into their chairs, after a short introduction Ms Paretsky gave an enthralling monologue about her life’s journey from Kansas through being a marketing executive at an insurance company in Chicago to becoming a world famous author.
Ms Paretsky’s family have strong links to West Point military academy and hence her interest in Sandhurst. One of her family flew over 90 combat missions in WW2 and this was attributed to the care he had to take as the US Army Airforce’s standard issue life jackets were far too small to fit him – so he knew he could not ditch in the English Channel.
Her descriptions of Chicago and the part of Chicago that V.I. lived in were very informative and her description of how each wave of immigrants were fiercely loyal to their roots and became ‘hyphenated’ Americans e.g. Polish-Americans.
After so many successful books it is hard to imagine that her career began with a course on ‘how to write detective stories’ by Stuart Kaminsky (I believe). He had suggested looking at white collar crime as a source of inspiration and this has remained a theme throughout the whole series. V.I. was to become one of the first female crime heroes who wasn’t a victim, had a sex-life and actually could fight back when it was required. See the link below for a thumb nail sketch about V.I. which does miss out her obsession with the Venetian glass that was left to her by her mother which miraculously survives fires and break-ins at her apartment.
Ms Paretsky then gave a reading from her latest book, Body Work. Warshawski has upset Ukrainian mobsters by her recent investigation and is attacked by them. Like all of us she is showing her age, circa 50, and is then dragged off to a waiting car for a ‘discussion’ with the gang’s leader.
After the reading we learnt that V.I. would no longer ‘age’ in future stories but would remain around her ‘current age’ as would her dog, Peppy, and all the other characters. Ms Paretsky hoped that this wouldn’t detract from her reader’s future enjoyment.
Ms Paretsky asked for questions. Clearly I wasn’t the only avid fan as the questions ranged from why Boom Boom (Warshawski’s ice hockey playing cousin) had been killed off so early in the series to how Ms Paretsky wrote her books. Credit is clearly due to Ms Paretsky’s husband for not only proof reading duties but to his challenges about why anyone would disable the locks that link the Great Lakes.
The evening ended with coffee and biscuits and Ms Paretsky signing books.
I am grateful to the librarians of the Sandhurst Public Library for organising the event and they are to be thanked for their enthusiasm about books and being so supportive to our community. And Bracknell Forest Borough Council is to be thanked for having such excellent staff AND for not cutting any of the library budgets in the coming year.
Hello Ian, this sounds like a really good evening and thanks for posting something that recommends a new line of books to read – always good to hear what others are reading. Our local libraries are a fantastic resource here in Berkshire and need all the praise they deserve.
Best, Kate