I have to say this was fantastic! The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is that I guessed what happened with the mystery about who wrote the essay. I loved the callback to a past case of VI's and her annoying nemesis from that one popping up in this one (Marcena Love).

In "Death on the Edge" VI gets involved in introducing Marcena to her old school in order to talk to a teacher who is concerned about an essay that was submitted describing the death of the essay writer's uncle. When VI pops up though she finds the teacher dead and a whole lot of confusion about what is going on. VI being her, she quickly figures out what happened.

Marcena may have learned a bit after the events from Fire Sale, but she still sucks though. 

The writing was tight in this one. I love short stories done well and Paretsky kicks butt in this one. I could have read even more and wish that Paretsky would think about putting together another collection of short stories starring VI and the people who move around in her world. I also loved the writing focusing on murders occurring in Chicago and how it was impacting her old school which is now full of a lot of minorities not getting the help that they need. 

The flow was perfect throughout too.

The end came too quick, but it was very well done. 

I don't even know what to say about this one. It was so far fetched that two of VI's investigations would even link up. I still love this series though because it's great to read about a strong female character who chose to remain single and not have children. That's not to say that VI does not enjoy gentlemen companions, she's okay without them though.

"Shell Game" has her investigating a police matter involving Lottie's nephew. She also gets a call from a niece by her first and only marriage. She hasn't seen either nieces in more than a decade, but one of them is missing and the other one is asking for VI's help. We get some familiar characters, Mr. Contreras, Lottie, Lottie's long time boyfriend, and some of the women that VI has met over the years through her advocacy work. We also get the return of her ex Dick and you definitely get why it didn't work out between them. 

I liked VI in this one. She's tough and is still the same liberal feminist she has been throughout this series. Paretsky throws in some comments about Trump and how the news media has become fake news. VI is feeling her age a bit though. She still throws punches, but her ability to shake things off is long gone. She gets hurt and it's mentioned throughout the story how she's not at 100 percent. Though she's exhausted she does what she can for Lottie's nephew and her niece that is missing. 

Since these books are told in VI's POV, there's not much character development with other characters in this one. Lottie is still Lottie. Mr. Contreras still drives me up the wall with his scorned lover routine which I am shocked that VI has not addressed before now. We do get a new love interest in this one who seems more aligned with VI. It would be nice if she could date someone that just supports her. None of her other exes did IMHO. 

You see that through VI there is an underlying criticism of the rich and also ICE in this one. You don't see how those two things marry up, but Paretsky tries to carry it off. I think it would have worked better if this story had been split into two separate books. There are huge problems with ICE that can fill its own book. I don't like to imagine the filthy rich getting away with murder, but then I think about Ed Buck and swear a lot so that part is definitely realistic. The writing works, but got to say that the flow was all over the place until the two plots came together towards the end.

Chicago always reads as gritty and full of dark places in this book. 

I have to say that the ending was a bit much. It didn't even read as remotely realistic with what befalls everyone. 

Well "Shell Game" was a good peek in VI's world again. I had no idea how much I missed her until this book. VI is definitely older and wiser about pushing in on things.

I do have to say that this book had the mother of all coincidences that did not work at all for me (why I am only giving it 4 stars) and think that Paretsky would have been better served with creating two stand alone novels. I loved the backstory about her and Dick's nieces' and wow he and his current wife are terrible. The other plot about Lotty's nephew made zero sense at all and Paretsky trying to tie it into immigration and ICE felt like a big leap. I know that she likes to talk about cultural events as they happen in her books which I love, but I was still scratching my head about some of the things depicted in the book. 

Okay let's start with the good, we get into the racial history of a town in Kansas. You can see how things were set up different for those who were white and black. If the book had managed to focus on that this would have been stronger. Instead, Paretsky throws in the military, hidden secrets about germ warfare, Russians (how topical), and the initial investigation seems to be lost in trying to tie into too many things in this town's past.

"Fallout" takes place entirely with VI in Lawrence, Kansas tracking down a man (August) that Bernie (Boom Boom's goddaughter) knows from her hockey teammate. Bernie asks VI to help find him since there was a break in at a gym he worked at and many people are starting to think he had something to do with it. When VI goes to work and finds out August left town to go with an aging African American actress to her hometown in Kansas to film her life, she follows. From there the book flails into a chaotic mess. 

VI is at a crossroads with her relationship with Jake. Yeah things looked great in the last book, but out of nowhere he has gone to Switzerland to play music for a year (I was so confused about this) and gets resentful of VI's job, her life, and her not following him. I hated we just got emails from this character with VI not doing anything to head off what is coming her way relationship wise.

VI's nosy neighbor is missing (thank goodness) and Lotty and Max are barely in this one. Unfortunately we have freaking Bernie showing up in this one again and I swear I loathe this character. I am not the only reviewer that cannot stand her. After this book she better not pop up in one of VI's cases again. 

The secondary characters we meet are interesting in this one. I did laugh at people pointing out that wherever VI went dead bodies or women in need were out there. Small towns are pretty hilarious. So kudos for Paretsky for capturing that in this book. I just wish the book had focused more on the town and the history. Throwing in the germ warfare and what happened in this town in the 80s (which is not believable) was a hard pillow to swallow. I just found myself rolling my eyes through most of this book. There was another big plot point (who was a character's father) that I could not with. I maybe slammed my Kindle at that point and turned on Netflix to watch Death in Paradise for a n hour. 

The writing was typical Paretsky, I just had issues with the logic leaps in this one as I said above. The flow was off mightily in this one though. The whole book felt draggy. Reading about VI trying to work out, or walking her dog (why was the dog even with her???) just became monotonous after a while. 

Moving the action from Chicago to Lawrence wasn't a problem for me. Just the way the plot unfolded. I like it when the main character is out of familiar surroundings. Makes the books more interesting when you get into a long running series like this.

I read an excerpt of the next book, "Shell Game" and it looks interesting. 

Besides the clever ending which gets at the title of the book, this one was a chore to get through. At first I thought a case tying things back to VI's family, specifically her cousin Boom Boom would be great. But after a while the whole thing sounded so freaking implausible I just could not. I also hated that we get a Petra stand in (Boom Boom's goddaughter Bernie) and Mr. Contreras was maddening. We also get a return of Bobby and Conrad (bah to him, I am glad that VI finally told him to let shit go) and the whole book felt endless. I think the big problem is that there were too many moving parts that didn't make a very cohesive plot. 

In "Brush Back" we have VI being asked by her ex-boyfriend (from high school) to look into his mother's murder case. More than decades has passed since Frank Guzzo's mother Stella went to jail for the murder of his sister Annie. Stella admits to beating Annie and going to bingo (as one does) but claims she was alive when she left. Things seem to be out of VI's hands after Stella refuses her help and acts like an asshole while doing so. When Stella accuses VI's dead cousin Boom Boom of murdering her daughter and her father covering it up, VI starts snooping to figure out who could have killed Annie if not Stella.

VI was rightfully riled up in this one. I like to see her mad and her investigation skills have not gotten rusty. She knows immediately her cousin could not have done this and starts pulling out threads about the Guzzo family. You also find out how hard things were for VI after her mother passed away and how some of the neighbors were jerks. I can see why she booked it out of South Chicago. 

We get familiar secondary characters in this one: Lotty, Max, Bobby, Conrad, VI's tenant she shares office space with, Mr. Contreas, Jake. We also get some new characters, VI's cousin's god daughter who is obviously a Petra stand-in. I didn't like her much in this book and loathed in the next book. She ends up being a pain in the ass and costs VI in both books cause she doesn't listen and swears she knows all. I hope that Paretsky poofs her in book number 19 (Shell Game).

I have to say though the plot doesn't make a lot of sense. The why behind people trying to set up Boom Boom was dumb as hell. If you met VI even once you have to know that threatening her or her family member's memories would not make her back off. Things don't tie together nicely and I have to say the ending was very frustrating/not believable things at all. VI can't just get people to always come out and rescue her and her doing this I am an independent woman who needs no one shtick. I wish she get a partner again, but looks like we won't see that happening anytime soon.