New York Times Bestseller: A Chicago PI trying to help her elderly neighbors ends up tangled in politics and a murder in this "fast-paced, complicated mystery" ( New York Daily News ). V.I. "Vic" Warshawski and her neighbor share responsibility for a currently pregnant dog--but Mr. Contreras complains that her detective work keeps her too busy to help with little Peppy. Still, that doesn't stop him from adding more to her plate by asking her to investigate the disappearance of his friend, a fellow retiree. At the same time, Vic's trying to look out for a vulnerable eighty-year-old down the street whose property is considered an eyesore by the newcomers gentrifying the neighborhood. When Mr. Contreras's friend turns up dead in a canal, and the old lady on the block winds up in the hospital, Vic is swept into a world of organized labor, money, and politics--and discovers a distressing personal connection to the case. Vic may not always succeed as a guardian angel--but when things go wrong, she can chase down the demons--in this suspenseful novel from the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and "crime-fiction pro" ( People ). "Paretsky's emphasis on character comes at no expense of action: Vic's investigation is as physical as it is mental, taking her inside Chicago's industrial world and up against bad guys who use everything from bats to heavy machinery to thwart her. Among today's PIs, nobody comes close to Warshawski." -- Publishers Weekly "The richest and most engaging yet of Ms. Paretsky's thrillers." -- The New York Times "Densely textured, adroitly plotted." -- Kirkus Reviews "One monster of a plot." -- Booklist

Among the first, and perhaps the most compelling, female private investigators of contemporary fiction, Sara Paretsky's incomparable character V. I. Warshawski at last returns to the page in her first full-length appearance since 1994's "Tunnel Vision." Hard Time is the work of a master--a riveting novel of suspense that is indisputably Paretsky's best V.I. Warshawski novel yet. Multimedia conglomerate Global Entertainment has purchased the "Chicago Herald-Star," forcing the paper's staff to scramble to stay employed. Reporter Murray Ryerson, V.I.'s longtime friend and sometime rival, manages to reinvent himself as the host of a television show on Global's network. On her way home from a party celebrating Murray's debut, V.I. almost runs over a woman lying in the street. Stopping to help, V.I. soon learns that her Good Samaritan act will drop her squarely in a boiling intrigue. In a case that forces her to go head-to-head with one of the world's largest providers of private security and prison services, a case that exposes dark hidden truths behind the razzle-dazzle of the entertainment industry, V.I. will be ahead of the game if she gets out alive.