The Suspense Sisters
These superb summer thrillers were written by four authors at the top of their game who share the inside story of writing their books
Written by Nancy Bilyeau
Brush Back
By Sara Paretsky
V.I. Warshawski, the smart, resourceful Chicago private investigator with a chip on her shoulder, is pulled into a painful chapter from her own past in this enthralling new novel. A high-school boyfriend’s pleading request of V.I. plunges her into a deepening pit of corruption and cover-ups, with her own life put very much at risk.
“The previous book Critical Mass was on a very big canvas and covered 70 years and looked at the race to develop the atom bomb, jumping to Vienna, and so I very much wanted to bring V.I.’s story back to a tighter focus and make it a Chicago story,” says Paretsky. One of the most effective passages in Brush Back follows a life and death struggle in the deepest levels of Wrigley Field. “I was told that Wrigley Field, built before 1920, was really nasty down there,” she says. “All the care was lavished on the field and the ivy. And I thought, ‘That sounds like a great chase scene to me.’ I tried to get the Cubs to let me go in and see it. They never even returned my email. I thought, “OK, guys, you had your chance, I’m making it up.” It was some of the most fun as a writer I’ve ever had—writing a chase scene in the underbelly of Wrigley Field.”
