Review: ‘Fallout’

Private detective V.I. Warshawski, like her creator, Sara Paretsky, is a woman of Chicago. Since her introduction in 1982, Warshawski has been solving cases in the Windy City. But in Paretsky's latest novel, 'Fallout,” the detective travels to Lawrence, Kansas, to track down a pair of missing people. The case, unsurprisingly, turns out to be about much more than that.

Paretsky is often - and rightly - credited with moving the mystery genre forward with the introduction of Warshawski, a female detective who is every bit the heroic figure her male literary counterparts have been throughout the history of mystery fiction. In 'Fallout,” the detective may be far from home, but she's still in her element, tracking down clues, connecting the dots, and sorting out who is a friend and who is a foe.

The plot of the novel turns on an abandoned missile silo and some experimental crops. Warshawski's search for an elderly African American movie star and the young man who accompanied her on a quest to explore her roots soon has the detective butting heads with a wide range of people, including law enforcement, an angry college professor with a troubled daughter, and folks - both black and white - who think she's stirring up trouble. Paretsky's story is a complex one, but satisfyingly so.

As always, Warshawski narrates her own adventure, and her voice is strong. Paretsky is skilled at having her protagonist reveal her interior monologue which is often at odds with what she says to others. The investigator's bravado frequently gets her into trouble, but it also allows her to bluff her way into learning more information.

If you haven't read Paretsky before, you might start with one of the previous novels to get a sense of Warshawski in her natural environment before diving into 'Fallout.” That said, the new book stands on its own well, providing enough back story to please longtime fans without confusing new readers.