Breakdown

THE indomitable V.I. Warshawski is back in the 15th book of this always-entertaining series.

THE indomitable V.I. Warshawski is back in the 15th book of this always-entertaining series.

This tale starts in a graveyard, where a group of teenage girls has gathered for an initiation rite inspired by a book series they adore, about a shapeshifter called Carmilla, Queen of the Night. Instead, the young girls discover a real corpse, a man stabbed through the heart in a vampire-style slaying, and their secret's out.

Vic is called in to get them out of harm's way as quietly as possible. One of the girls is the granddaughter of a Jewish billionaire and another the daughter of a prominent local.

Before long, Vic is in the middle of a storm talked up by a right-wing TV hero railing against what he says are shameful, even criminal, secrets lurking in the billionaire's past.

When the billionaire tries to stop her investigating, Vic wonders what he's hiding. More deaths make the truth even murkier and lead to even more questions as our feisty detective searches for the answers. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the introduction of V.I. Warshawski as the trailblazing female private investigator in the 1982 Indemnity Only, and she has only grown more compelling over the years.

But even detectives have to change with the times and now Vic often complains about how the internet has altered sleuthing. For someone who likes to get out and about, sitting in front of a computer can be a kind of torment.

She's honest, tough, loyal, incorruptible, sarcastic, fights for the underdog, gets into trouble and looks hot in a red cocktail dress and heels, even if she'd rather be in flats. So what's not to love?

VERDICT: Race to the finish

Breakdown, Sara Paretsky, Hodder & Stoughton, $30