Indemnity Only

Bought for kindle in 2020 out of nostalgia, fear I'll run out of books, and because VI Warshawski was one of the only tough, independent female detectives I could find back in the 1990s. No kidding; usually female mysteries had 'cozy' all over them and included at least one cat. <br /><br />I enjoy Paretsky's writing style, which is hard-boiled, with a great blend of setting (1980s Chicago), steady action, dialogue, and character (mixed Polish-Italian cop-family heritage). However, sometimes V.I. struggles so damn much with family loyalty to people that are all dead and gone that I'm a bit amazed. In this one, the first part of her case is sort of 'solved,' but she quickly gets off track when a peripheral character (the mother of someone found dead) blames Vic's dead parents and dead cousin Boom-Boom for all her woes and supposedly has evidence proving it. This infuriates Vic into making bad choices, which is probably a plot crutch.<br /><br />Vic's emotions are involved to such a degree that she makes some questionable romantic choices as well and really fails to vet what she is being told by others. Surprisingly, instead of using the 'verify everything' technique, it's more 'verify only if I don't like them'. I remember this being a major lynchpin later, which is annoying. Also annoying are the interactions with her dad's best buddy on the force and who keeps trying to talk her out of doing what she perceives as her job.<br /><br />In short: good for its time, really, but I'm not totally sure I also want to re-read it. It's so very 80s, sexism, Chicago, scrabbling hard times, and everything else.

<b> <i> <u>Mini-Review</u> </i> </b><br /><br />What can you say about VI Warshawski? She's hilarious... and someone you'd want to know in real life. She's got a nice chip on her shoulder, but it becomes endearing. And she takes risks. This was a great debut novel for the series and I loved when it became the focus for a movie. I stopped reading this series about 8 to 10 years ago when I was all caught up... but I think I have a few to get back to. Tough crime novel. Good characters. A definite good read!<br /><br /><b> <i> <u>About Me</u> </i> </b><br />For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://thisismytruthnow.com">https://thisismytruthnow.com</a>, where you'll also find TV &amp; Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. <i>Note</i>: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

This is the novel that introduced Chicago private investigator V. I. Warshawski back in 1982. At that time, the book was something of a revelation. Female P.I.s were few and far between, especially hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners types. There were, of course, plenty of Miss Marples and the like, solving mostly gentile puzzle mysteries, sometimes with the assistance of their cats. But hardly any women P.I.s were out there kicking ass and taking names.<br /><br />Then, in 1982, readers were introduced to both Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone and Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski, and the world of crime fiction was never the same again. Thirty-four years later, though, this book does not seem nearly as special as it once did. Thanks largely to the efforts of Paretsky and Grafton, there are any number of hard-boiled female investigators out there, and so reading a book like this is no longer nearly as eye-opening and exciting as it was back then.<br /><br />As the story opens, a mysterious client insists on a late night meeting with V.I., assuming that she is a male. Once he discovers that she's a "girl," he's not so sure that he wants to entrust her with something serious. But V.I. is tired after a long day and isn't about to take any sexist crap from the guy. She convinces him that she can get the job done and he finally identifies himself as the wealthy officer of a large bank in downtown Chicago. He's concerned that his son, Peter, has fallen in love with the "wrong" girl and is living in a hovel with a bunch of unwashed hippies or other such riff-raff. The girl is now missing; the son blames his father for scaring her away and insists that he will never come home again until he is reunited with his lost love.<br /><br />The man hires V. I. to find the missing young woman so that peace can be restored between him and his son. However, V. I. no sooner begins her investigation than she discovers the body of Peter, the young lover, shot to death in the kitchen of his apartment. Inevitably all hell breaks loose. V. I. is determined to find the killer because she discovered the body. The cops, naturally, want her the hell off the case, but she tells them to shove it and goes about her business--much more in the fashion of Phillip Marlowe than Jessica Fletcher. There are a lot of nasty customers involved in this case; V.I. is in serious physical danger, and virtually no one takes her seriously because of her gender. The odds, to say the least, are long.<br /><br />Truth to tell, the story itself has some serious holes in it, and the resolution depends on more than a couple of amazing coincidences that stretch credulity to the limit. In a day and age when tough female detectives are virtually a dime a dozen, the reader starts to notice such things, but when this book initially appeared, the character of V. I. Warshawski was such a revelation that one didn't notice them. This book would launch a long series of novels featuring Warshawski; both she and her creator were true trailblazers in the world of crime fiction, and the fact that the world has caught up with V. I. is a tribute to both of them. Three stars for the story itself; five stars for being instrumental in breaking the glass ceiling in crime fiction.

Many years ago I dipped into a <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/28509.Sara_Paretsky" title="Sara Paretsky" rel="noopener">Sara Paretsky</a> book. I don't even remember which one it was but I did not finish it because I disliked the main character so much. Well I decided to have another try and this time I started with the first in the series. This particular book is quite old now and it has a lot of charm just because of its style and its setting. No mobile phones or laptops assist this private detective in her work. And I found I did not dislike her so much anymore, in fact she is a rather smart and certainly tough lady. The story was good, lots of action, some suspense, a satisfying ending. So three stars from me and a promise to read book 2 fairly soon.

Oddly, even though I've read many of the V.I. Warshawski novels, I'd yet to read the first one until; now.<br /><br />I have certain expectations of one of Vic Warshawski's exploits: well-written; tightly plotted; intricately bound up with Chicago culturally, politically. and topographically; gritty, and, of course, depressing as all get-out.<br /><br />That Vic is always always under the hammer isn’t surprising; most detectives are. That she faces tall odds is also expected. However, she's the only detective I’ve read of so far whom everyone outside of her ‘inner circle’ (put in quotes because even these folks only get so close) seems to have some problem, from slight discomfort to outright loathing. Very few people like Warshawski on first sight, and those that do soon change their tune. Part of it has to do with the massive ‘me against the world’ complex Vic carries around with her, crystalized in visions of her deceased mother’s recalled ferocity. This means that Warshawski usually winds up at odds with everyone, from the people she’s against to her clients, and sometimes even to those in her inner circle. She’s a lone crusader, battling against the world, willing to fight the good fight right up until the moment she falls. Which, by the way, is going to happen, sooner or later. Warshawski never out-and-out says this, but there’s a certain fatalistic air to the novels that makes me feel that way.<br /><br />Why read them, then? Because it’s damned good writing! God knows I wouldn’t want to be Warshawski — I’d probably be tempted to eat a bullet at some point, only the remembered stare of my mother’s fierce eyes would guilt me out of doing it, setting me up for more misery — but Paretsky’s words make it worth the slog.<br /><br />Which is why <i>Indemnity Only</i> came as a surprise. Things are gritty in it, yes, but Vic hasn’t yet reached that level of fatalism that darkens the later books. There’s more, much more chauvinism against her, especially from homicide detective Bobby Mallory (not one of my favorite characters in any of the books, but he reaches new —or old, I suppose— heights of m.c. oinkhood here) but the foreword keeps you aware that this is to be expected: this was the early eighties, and the things we accept that women can do in the post ‘naughts without (much) of a blink was still new and raw then. And hell, one of Warshawski’s clients actually doesn’t turn on her!<br /><br />So, if you’re a fan and like me, haven’t read this book, by all means pick it up and celebrate V.I. Warshawski’s thirtieth anniversary in style. And if you’re new to our lady of scrap-iron, this is a great place to start making her acquaintance. Just remember, things do get better, and, of course, worse.

At a recent book signing hosted by the delightful mystery book store Murder by the Book, I mentioned to the clerk that I thought Sue Grafton’s twice-divorced, no make-up-wearing, junk food-loving sleuth Kinsey Millhone had influenced my becoming a feminist. In response, he recommended that I read Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski novels, saying that if Grafton was “there” on the spectrum of feminist writers then Paretsky was way over “here.”<br /><br />I’m not sure by what scale he was measuring because I didn’t find Paretsky’s Indemnity Only to be particularly more feminist than any of Grafton’s novels. In fact, I saw mostly similarities between Kinsey and V.I., known to her friends as Vic, and between Grafton and Paretsky’s approaches to these characters. Kinsey and Vic are outspoken, willful, and self-sufficient women. They are single with at least one divorce under their belt and a rather detached attitude toward dating and men. They exercise regularly, hold their own in a scrape, and can fire a weapon if need be. Both Grafton and Paretsky attempt to treat these women in an ungendered way: they do not limit what their characters can and may do because of their sex, but they do not masculinize them. However, the authors seemingly felt compelled to make them somewhat androgynous, as evidenced by the choice of their characters’ names.<br /><br />As for their differences, these two fictional P.I.s come from disparate backgrounds. Kinsey has more of a delinquent past, having dropped out of college and then the police force before becoming a private investigator, while Vic graduated from college with a law degree and even practiced as a public defender for a spell before she acquired her P.I. license. These women differ significantly in their concern for their appearance. Kinsey wears essentially the same combo of jeans, turtleneck, and running shoes most of the time and cuts her hair with nail scissors. Vic obviously cares about what she looks like, even though she doesn’t lament much over the extensive facial bruising she acquires in Indemnity Only. She puts together outfits and mentions at one point in the novel that she thought her clothing would get her some attention. While Vic doesn’t seem particularly high maintenance, I must say I missed Kinsey’s nonchalant approach to her looks, and I was a little shocked when Vic mentally criticizes another woman’s flabby upper arms.<br /><br />I must say that with this novel as an introduction I’m completely apathetic toward the world of V.I. Warshawski and Sara Paretsky’s writing. I didn’t find Vic very likable, which may be purposeful to an extent on Paretsky’s part. Vic certainly feels no need to ingratiate herself to everyone she meets, and I can appreciate that trait as a feminist since it goes against women’s social conditioning. But as the reader, I need to like her to remain involved in the story. I think I was supposed to admire Vic’s determination or something, but instead I found her disagreeable and entitled. I also didn’t understand why Vic dated Ralph. I think Paretsky intended for that relationship to demonstrate Vic’s casual attitude toward sex, which is all well and good, but why would Vic even have casual sex with a man who so obviously thought that a lady couldn’t be a private investigator for realsies? As for Paretsky’s writing style, I disliked that she doled out the solving of the mystery in large chunks, with much of it revealed by the villain monologue-ing at the end of the novel. The crime itself and the people involved weren’t particularly interesting either. I also grew weary of her hamfisted attempts to demonstrate that every man Vic encounters doesn’t think that she can do her job because she is a woman, which is sexist OK?, and this tendency also caused many of the male characters’ voices to sound very similar.<br /><br />Shouting sexism the loudest does not make Paretsky the most feminist, and it certainly doesn’t make her the superior writer.

V. I. Warshawski is a Chicago private investigator, and 'Indemnity Only' is the first in Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski series. I can't quite put my finger on it, but she is strikingly masculine, the most male-like of the women P.I.s I enjoy reading about. She is also the most alone, no living mother or father or siblings. She started out being a lawyer, but switched careers after helping a friend with a problem that required detective work.<br /><br />Vic (don't call her Vickie!) has a late night visitor, who hires her to find a girl. But everything about the case she is given is a lie - her client's name, the missing girl's name, and the fact of a murder having been committed a few days before is concealed from her. Warshawski has been in business long enough to know how to get to the bottom of it all and save a life or two while solving the mystery. It doesn't hurt having had a cop father who, although dead, has given her police contacts, but she relies on herself 99.9% of the time. <br /><br />When this case turns up a connection to hardcore underworld criminals, she buys a gun and relearns how to shoot. She also meets a fellow easy on the eyes who could be not only an inside source, but a chance for romance. He could also be a bad guy. He definitely needs an education in feminism, unable to believe Warshawski, or any woman, could possibly be a real detective (book was written in 1982).<br /><br />It's a little dated, and the writing is a little flat; however, it's good enough. The way her client brought Warshawski into the case was not believable on any level, but I got past that.

Paretsky's first in a long series. V.I. Warshawski is a smart, tough, female private eye in Chicago. A client hands her $500 and a story about a missing girl. When V.I. begins to check, she finds the body of a young man, killed for no apparent reason.<br />The book is laced with feminism as V.I. does what used to be a man's job, questioning people, fighting, even using a gun when necessary. V.I. uncovers a big conspiracy in her digging and deftly resolves the case. The plot is confusing at points, as often seems to be the case with P.I. mysteries, as the author needs the P.I. to learn things and sometimes make unlikely inferences to keep advancing. Copyright 1982, the book holds up well.

I have just finished listening to this book in the audible version almost exactly 10 years after I read it for the first time in the printed version. I actually don’t remember the story at all from having read it before. But I did continue to read this entire series and to buy all of the printed books as used books. I am not sure if I read the series exactly in order but it is possible that I did. And I did finally reach the end of the series although it is possible that the series went on even after I had read the “last” book. One of the things that I am aware of as I reread some of these books years later is that one of the attractions that kept me involved was that there is a bit of progressive politics and lifestyles present that I would have found attractive. I know I have a couple more of these books lined up in the audible version so I am doing a bit of a flashback. For the past year I have been selling many of my printed books on eBay including many of the books from this series. Adding another 10 years onto the age of this book and the series has not really done any damage to the story. Or to the heroine!<br />——————————<br /><br />This is the first book in the long running V.I. Warshawski , private investigator, series. It was published in 1982, thirty years ago! <br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/28509.Sara_Paretsky" title="Sara Paretsky" rel="noopener">Sara Paretsky</a> is up to the fifteenth book in the series in 2012.<br /> <br />Her office in the South Loop of Chicago is on the fourth floor of a building where the elevator is often out of order and with fuses that blow when you turn on the AC. Yes, a woman private investigator. She charges $125 per day plus expenses. A salesman is trying to sell her a very early version of an IBM computer. It’s the summer of 1979. Ms. Warshawski, as her name suggests, has Polish heritage. Her father was a policeman. She is now in her thirties, sees herself as pretty good looking and in very good physical condition. She tried marriage unsuccessfully once about eight years ago. She is a Cubs fan. She prefers white wine to beer. You can usually count on her to clean her plate. She hates to pay to park her car. Is an ice cream lover, especially topped with a little liqueur. So many things to know about a new character! She will be an interesting person to find out about book by book and Paretsky will undoubtedly keep pumping out the tidbits about her character.<br /><br />Last year I asked a family friend to suggest a mystery book series with a strong woman protagonist. This was the series she recommended. Early in the book it is obvious the V.I. is strong, physically strong! She single handedly succeeds in disabling two gangsters who show up to take her to see the boss. And she ends up delivering a well placed kick to the crotch (no terribly crude language in this book!) of the boss as well. You might think she would wind up with this being her last act, but this is fiction so she is tossed out on the street somewhat worse for wear having been warned to butt out. She takes a taxi home. <br /><br />I already have several more books from the series and am looking forward to seeing how life develops for V.I. in the ensuing years. Will she be a sixty something P.I. in the 2012 <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/643988.Indemnity_Only__V_I__Warshawski___1_" title="Indemnity Only (V.I. Warshawski, #1) by Sara Paretsky" rel="noopener"> Breakdown </a>? That would be interesting. I do not have much experience reading series since the Hardy Boys some decades ago, so this character development over the years is a new experience for me. I don’t remember the Hardy Boys growing up and going off to college.<br /> <br /><i>Indemnity Only</i> is a good start to a series. You get to know V.I. Warshawski and look forward to running into her again in the future. The book introduces us to a smart, brave and independent woman, a woman who knows how to take care of herself. The book wears its age well easily earning four stars.

So I have been reading a ton of mystery/crime series this year as you all can see. I have gotten invested in the Harry Bosch series and am a long-time fan of the Alphabet series by Sue Grafton. I don't know yet if I am going to add in VI Warshawski as a long time reader or not. I think that parts of the book were good, but other parts that deal with VI's personality started getting on my nerves. Like a lot. I do wonder though if this was a male character if she would have irked me so much which definitely made me think.<br /><br />In the first book we have VI as an established PI, but not really getting into life and death situations. Until this book which has VI investigating when a college girl goes missing and her boyfriend is found murdered. What I love about this book and the Sue Grafton books is both timelines take place during the early 1980s. There is no internet, Google, or Facebook. There are mentions of computers, but VI loves her mother's old Olvetti typewriter. We also hear about the women's right movement and man oh man the sad parallels to the early 80s to now was just whiplash inducing after a while. You would think we came further, we have not.<br /><br />VI is a loner except for her best friend and mother figure, Doctor Lotty Herschel. Lotty is the Greek chorus in VI's face telling her to be careful and to slow down. Though VI wants to prove herself as strong and tough as any man out there, she keeps having run ins with a bunch of people who mean to do her harm which starts to put a damper on her and her potential love interest.<br /><br />I liked the writing, but thought at times that Paretsky got a bit repetitive. It seems like every five seconds VI was relaxing in a bath tub and drinking some Black Label whiskey. After a while I wondered how the heck she was still standing since when I drink whiskey I start thinking naps are a good idea.<br /><br />This first book was kind of all over the place a bit I thought. We have Paretsky laying out VI's background and her contacts. The case was actually pretty cool and I loved the solution to it and what the bad guys were getting up to. <br /><br />This takes place in Chicago (you know the place that apparently is on fire right now--eyeroll) and Paretsky does a great job of making Chicago of the 80s come alive.