Reviews

Windy City Blues: V.I. Warshawski Stories by Sara Paretsky

tehlanna's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

raymond_murphy's review against another edition

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3.0

This book was great. VI (Victoria) Warshawski is totally a fully realized person. Only problem with this set of short stories is it’s an awful lot of murder a closely connected to friends and family over a short time period.

henrismum's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Take away: Lots of short stories.
Narration: Susan Ericksen - good as usual
Normal Speed - Accelerated Speed
New - Second - Third -
Committed
Series
- Non Series - Non-Fiction - Author
Listening to this book was a chore.
I'm glad I listened to this book.
I didn't want this book to end.
I could not wait to be done with this book.

Average, but better than anything I've written.

mg_in_md_'s review against another edition

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3.0

to be reviewed

This set of short stories focuses on private investigator V.I. Warshawski's friends and family. While I'm just starting this series, I felt like this was a great introduction to the recurring characters who definitely seem like they'll be fun to get to know as I read more. Several of the stories in this collection blended the past and present into the cases that V.I. was working on, and also had an art angle, which I enjoyed. If I had to pick my favorites, I'd go with "The Maltese Cat," "Skin Deep," and "Three-Dot Po." Looking forward to reading more of this series soon!

cwebb's review against another edition

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3.0

Bunch of short stories, which were my start into the V.I. Warshawski series.

I like the Chicago backdrop, I like the quick and easy short stories. It's just that the early ones from the end of the 70ies are brutal - living was rough back then. "ho remembers phonebooks fondly? No one. I don't either.

lazwright's review against another edition

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4.0

I love a spunky little short story. Interesting topics tackled and some good Chicago-style realism going on.

wintermdavis's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I adore Sara Paretsky and VI Warshawski, but these stories were so jumpy and abandoning. At one point, I found myself flipping pages back because new characters kept appearing without introduction. DO read Paretsky, but maybe skip this particular grouping.

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shammons's review against another edition

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3.0

I picked this book up at a library sale. I had wanted to check out Sara Paretsky and didn't spend enough time to read the cover and realize it was a collection of short stories. That's generally not my favorite genre. However, having said that, I did enjoy them and should plan to read another Paretsky book in the future.

claudiafp's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

snowdrowsey's review against another edition

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1.0

I got this book at a library book sale because it's a collection of short stories by Paretsky. I started reading it and had a sense of déjà vu as I was reading and couldn't figure out why. I have a book of her short stories titled, Windy City Blues, but thought that the stories in this book couldn't possibly be from the Windy City Blues book. However, by the time I reached the last story, Grace Notes, the story seemed just too-o-o familiar and I decided to look at my copy of Windy City Blues. I found all of the stories in the V.I. for Short book listed there but in a different order. David looked at both books and told me that the V.I. short story book was printed and distributed in Britain or Australia and is likely a British edition of the Windy City Blues book.