Paretsky, Sara (1947-…), an American author of detective stories, is the creator of the female private investigator V. I. Warshawski. The success of the Warshawski series is credited with helping to break down barriers to realistic portrayals of female detectives in fiction.
Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa, on June 8, 1947. She worked for a research company in Chicago from 1971 to 1974. After three years as a free-lance writer, she worked for a Chicago insurance company from 1977 to 1986, when she decided to become a full-time writer. Paretsky received M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago in 1977.
Paretsky introduced the Warshawski character in Indemnity Only (1982). Warshawski is tough, independent, and resourceful. She has strong sympathies for people victimized by the rich and powerful.
Paretsky sets her Warshawski novels in Chicago. Most of her stories involve the city’s working-class neighborhoods as well as corporate and political corruption. Novels in the series include 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), Body Work (2010), Breakdown (2012), Critical Mass (2013), Brush Back (2015), Fallout (2017), Shell Game (2018), and Overboard (2022).
In 1986, Paretsky helped found Sisters in Crime. The organization promotes women writers of detective fiction and tries to improve the image of women in detective stories. Paretsky also writes short stories and articles and has edited a number of anthologies of detective stories written by women. She wrote an autobiography, Writing in an Age of Silence (2007).
