Sunday, August 25, 2024

Book 16: Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky

VI Warshawski is suffering from PTSD after witnessing a father murder his trans child. At the request of her "goddaughter" Bernie, VI travels to Lawrence, Kansas to watch Bernie's housemate break the three-thousand point lifetime scoring mark in NCAA basketball. 

In the after-game celebration, Bernie's other housemate Sabrina disappears.VI reluctantly agrees to look for her and finds Sabrina suffering from a drug overdose in an abandoned house outside of town used for fraternity drug parties.

Instead of thanking VI for saving Sabrina, the police interrogate her and a FBI agent claims VI could have been facing a murder charge if Sabrina had died. 

When VI returns to the house the next day and discovers a dead woman, the law enforcement harassment intensifies. 

I enjoyed this book. But I can't help wondering why the Lawrence DA and FBI agent were so aggressive in targeting and attempting to frame VI. I get that she was convenient, having found the woman who OD'd and the murdered woman, and was from out-of-town, but didn't they realize who they were dealing with? After all, they did investigate her background.

I guess it's a case of Paretsky's rich powerful villains being too arrogant to realized a woman can beat them at their own game. And she did. 

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