Deadlock

Sara Paretsky grew up in eastern Kansas, where she attended a small country school. The publishing bug bit Paretsky early -- at age 11, her first published story appeared in the magazine TheAmerican Girl. It was about children surviving a Kansas tornado. She attended the University of Kansas for her undergraduate degree, but after spending a summer in Chicago doing communityservice work, she fell in love with the Windy City and decided after college to make the move permanent.

Paretsky eventually earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago but had a hardtime finding a job as an academic, so she returned to school for an M.B.A., after which she started working full-time in marketing. (In order to complete her first three novels, she juggledfamily and job with writing at night.) An avid reader, Paretsky has always been a fan of detective fiction, but noticed a lack of intelligent, likable female protagonists in the genre. Thus, withthe inspiring city of Chicago as the background, her signature character, V. I. Warshawski, was born.

Readers and critics have responded with appreciation for Paretsky's confident, modern,female detective. Unlike other heroines, V. I. refuses to be categorized by her sexuality. Despite the patriarchy she confronts on every case, she's a single woman in total control.

Paretskysays of V.I., " I started aging V.I. because although she is a fictional character, she is grounded in historical events: she came of age during the Civil Rights movement and the anti-Warmovement. Her mother was a refugee from Fascist Italy.

And her cases are all based on real events. Who she is depends on her being born in the Fifties. Now, of course, I have this dilemma of howto let her get older while still continuing to be an effective detective. I haven't quite figured that out yet."

Beyond her successful series, Paretsky has proven her range of talent