Order of Sara Paretsky Books
Sara Paretsky is an American novelist of detective fiction, largely featuring female private investigator V.I. Warshawski. Paretsky’s contributions to crime fiction include writing a female character who breaks all of the rules of what a female detective is “supposed” to be and transcending the typical labels.
Sara Paretsky had her first novel published in 1982, which was Indemnity Only. The frequency of her novels are typically about one every two years – sometimes more, sometimes less. Below is a list of all of Sara Paretsky’s books in order of when they were originally published:
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Publication Order of V.I. Warshawski Books
Publication Order of V.I. Warshawski Short Stories/Novellas
| Photo Finish | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Wildcat | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Death on the Edge | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of V.I. Warshawski Collections
| Windy City Blues | (1995) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Ghost Country | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Bleeding Kansas | (2007) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
| Taste of Life | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
| A Taste of Life and Other Stories | (1995) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Love & Other Crimes: Stories | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Writing In An Age Of Silence | (2007) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Words, Works, and Ways of Knowing | (2016) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Anthologies
Notes: Blood Shot was published in the United Kingdom as Toxic Shock. Windy City Blues was also published as V.I. for Short.
If You Like Sara Paretsky Books, You’ll Love…
do the books need to be read in order?
Not really but I’d recommend reading in publication order. There’s a change late on in the series that affects the chronology of the books and also changes a lot of things that occurs in the books that could make things very confusing.
There is some sort of gap between the Killing Orders(3) and Bitter Medicine(4). A new character Mr. Contreras and she is living in a new location. I tried finding copy of Skin Deep which sounds like a bridge novel indicated by a 3.5. Even though it was published in 1994. Any info available?
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I’ve looked into it but can’t confirm whether Skin Deep would fall in between the two or not. Sara doesn’t even list Skin Deep on her website. I also looked up reviews of Bitter Medicine and am not seeing anyone with a similar complaint that they felt there was something missing, or something to read between the two.
where does the windy city blues come in the v.i. warshawski series
It was published between Burn Marks & Guardian Angel. I’ll have it added under the “Collections” section soon.