Slice of P.I.: “Killing Orders”

(Part of a series celebrating fictional private eyes.)



Killing Orders, by Sara Paretsky (Morrow, 1985).

This was the third novel to be published starring Chicago P.I. V.I. Warshawski, following Indemnity Only (1982) and Deadlock (1984). By this point, Paretsky had impressed critics as one of several female crime-fictionists (including also Sue Grafton and Liza Cody) who were making inroads into a previously male-dominated field. As The Thrilling Detective Web Site puts it, Warshawski, “specializing in corporate skullduggery,” was “very proud of her Italian-Polish roots and her working-class background, and seems to take particular delight in going after fat cats. She’s got an office in the Loop, complete with the El rattling past every few minutes. And while she may be a slender 5’8”, V.I. can certainly take care of herself, thanks. No waiting to be rescued here—she packs a gun in her purse, and she’ll use it if she has to. She’ll duke it up if necessary, and she doesn’t take any bullshit—especially from men. She’s fiercely and defiantly feminist, and if many of her cases revolve around ‘women’s issues,’ well, so be it.”

Killing Orders finds Warshawski accepting a case to help her great-aunt Rosa, even though the two of them enjoy something far less than a warm relationship. The local Dominican priory has discovered counterfeit securities stored in its safe, and Rosa, who has long acted as that monastery’s treasurer, becomes a suspect in the crime and is quickly suspended. She needs her great-niece to prove her innocence. But what begins as a seemingly simple and safe assignment, soon results in lives being threatened and V.I. facing an unknown opponent willing to throw acid in her face and torch her apartment if that’s what is necessary to stop her from digging further.

Cover artwork for the eye-catching hardcover edition of Killing Orders shown above is credited to Judith Kazdym Leeds, whose bio brief says she has created more than 3,000 book jackets, among them the 1982 front of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, “chosen by Literary Hub as one of “The 25 Most Iconic Book Covers in History.”