Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Love & Other Crimes by Sara Paretsky Narrator: Susan Ericksen
Series: V.I. Warshawski
Published by HarperAudio on June 30, 2020
Genres: Mystery
Length: 14 hours, 11 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
From New York Times bestselling author Sara Paretsky, a collection of thrilling crime and detective short stories, many featuring legendary detective V.I. Warshawski--including a brand-new V.I. story.
Now in this spellbinding collection, Paretsky showcases her extraordinary talents with fourteen short stories, eight of which feature the indomitable detective--and a new V.I. story.
I have read and loved the V.I. Warshawski series for a looooong time, since it started in 1982! Each book is another case, so you could read them out of order but I wouldn’t. I enjoy the progression of the characters and they are all great to read.
Love & Other Crimes is different, an anthology of short stories. Many have been published in magazines previously but I am happy to have them all collected here. Some of the stories are NOT V.I. Warshawski stories. At the beginning, there is a detailed author’s note talking about the stories which I loved. There are also brief additional insights at the end of some of the stories.
My favorites were definitely the Warshawski stories, which is nearly all of them. I think it might be hard to connect with them without the context of having read some of the series. Similarly, I had more trouble with the stories not in this world. For example, the Sherlock Holmes story surprisingly did not capture me, as it was told more from another point of view, Amelia, who was not familiar to me. I love Sherlock Holmes but I found it hard to focus from this perspective. But I would like to read the series about Amelia. But the story loosely related to her father’s work in Kansas was wonderful, and not in the Warshawski world.
Overall, I was delighted with this collection since it is unlikely I would have gotten the magazines. I really appreciated having all the author’s thoughts and perceptions.
Narration:
Susan Ericksen is an excellent narrator and the voice of the V.I. Warshawski for me. Many of Vic’s cases are a lot of her thoughts in a stream of consciousness. The dialogue is handled well for both male and female voices. It was charming to get a British accent on the story with Sherlock Holmes. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip:
About Susan Ericksen
Susan Ericksen is a Renaissance woman. In addition to being an Earphones-winning audiobook narrator and director–she’s a writer, an amateur linguist, an actress, a mother, and a wife. In the 1980s she joined former classmate David Colacci in western Michigan, where he was artistic director for the Hope Summer Repertory Theater. Twenty miles away, a fledgling audiobook publisher called Brilliance was looking for narrators.
Susan has recorded around two hundred audiobooks for Brilliance, BBC Audiobooks, Tantor, and Hachette. “It was a natural step. As repertory theater actors, the whole point is to be able to do Shakespeare one night, a musical the next night, and Noel Coward the next. So you have multiple personalities and multiple character voices and physicalities. These are such valuable skills for doing audiobooks.”
About Sara Paretsky
Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction. Paretsky was raised in Kansas, and graduated from the state university with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in 1968 to work there. She ultimately completed a Ph.D. in history at the University of Chicago, entitled The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy in New England Before the Civil War, and finally earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Married to a professor of physics at the University of Chicago, she has lived in Chicago since 1968.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- COYER-20
Oh, how wonderful to get an audio collection of short stories in a favorite series! Excellent review, Anne? This series is on my shelf.
Yes it is wonderful because I never would have found or known about the magazines. I don’t know if they are even tracked on Goodreads.
Not sure I’ve ever read a V.I. Warshawski book, although I take note every time one comes out. That’s so cool that she’s still writing them!
She’s not that old. lol But she has written a long-running series. I really enjoy them.
I was curious so I looked her up. She’s actually 73!
i enjoyed your review and they do sound like stories i would enjoy too
I think you would enjoy this author but I always recommend to start at the beginning.
I do love it when an author brings together their shorter stories into one collection like this. Glad most were in the world you are already vastly familiar with.
Yes, some of the others like the one in Kansas – Miss Bianca – was excellent but my favorites are the Warshawski ones.
Oh it definitely looks different there!
Yes it is different, not all being in the same world.
Great review, Anne. It’s always a bonus to thoroughly enjoy a short story collection of a much-loved series – and I think this is where audiobooks come into their own as I definitely prefer listening to short stories, rather than reading them. This is a series I’ve heard a lot abuot over the years, but never read. When the library opens up again, I think I should check it out!
Thank you! I really like the detective and her growth over about 30-40 years. She tackles fights for underdogs and many social issues. I hope you get to try it; I would start at the beginning.
I love when they put together the shorts on audio from series I love. This series sounds great!
Yes I really like the shorts together. There are many good ones on this audio.
Sounds like a neat collection of stories! Glad to hear you enjoyed it. 🙂
I did really enjoy them.
I find it so fun when an author does a collection of short stories from one of my favorite series. Especially when it’s about some characters I wanted to know more about.
yes it is fun to have them all collected since some were out in magazines I would never have found. It is great to have more depth on some topic or side character also.