Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski Series

Set in a bleak Chicago, Illinois, Sara Paretsky's private investigator V.I. Warshawski is tough because she has to be. Warshawski fights crime for her high-powered clients, but also often has to cross into the underworld of Chicago society. Paretsky isn't afraid to allow Warshawski to get banged up from time to time. Warshawski lives in a world where bad guys live on every street corner, a lesson she learned at an early age from her childhood spent in Chicago's Southside.

• Indemnity Only (1982)
• Deadlock (1984)
• Killing Orders (1985)
• Bitter Medicine (1987)
• Blood Shot (1988)
  
• Burn Marks (1990)
• Guardian Angel (1992)
• Tunnel Vision (1994)
• Hard Time (1999)
• Total Recall (2001)
• Blacklist (2003)
• Fire Sale (2005)
• Hardball (2009)