The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 22 books · 1982 to 2024 · Set in Chicago

Sara Paretsky

Crime and mysteryPrivate eye

V.I. Warshawski, a Chicago private investigator who specialises in financial crime, takes on corporations, politicians and the Church, backed by her friend Dr Lotty Herschel and her elderly neighbour Mr Contreras.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. Paretsky’s standalones, including Bad Company, are left out.

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Who appears in which book

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LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Sara Paretsky books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

V.I. Warshawski

22 books · Set in ChicagoPrivate eye
  1. 1Indemnity Only1982With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  2. 2Deadlock1984With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  3. 3Killing Orders1985With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  4. 4Bitter Medicine1987With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  5. 5Toxic Shock1988With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  6. 6Burn Marks1990With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  7. 7Guardian Angel1992With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  8. 8Tunnel Vision1994With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  9. 9Hard Time1999With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  10. 10Total Recall2001With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  11. 11Blacklist2003With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  12. 12Fire Sale2005With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  13. 13Hardball2009With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  14. 14Body Work2010With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  15. 15Breakdown2012With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  16. 16Critical Mass2013With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  17. 17Brush Back2015With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  18. 18Fallout2017With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  19. 19Shell Game2018With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  20. 20Dead Land2020With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  21. 21Overboard2022With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon
  22. 22Pay Dirt2024With V.I. WarshawskiBuy on Amazon

Characters

7 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Chicago