The second V. I. Warshawski book I’ve read bySara Paretsky.

Again, weird. Original.

First-person narrative from V.I.’s perspective, giving readers direct access to her thoughts and observations. Right or wrong.

I was interested enough to Google and come up with:

A Conversation With Sara Paretsky on the Writing Process (Killer Writers)

like a dog wrestling with a sprinkler, and the sprinkler is always winning

 I was lucky to be friends with P.D. James, who told me she outlined in so much detail that she would write the chapter she wanted to work on a given day. I wish I could do that. I would write so much faster and have so many more books out. I’d be like the Stephen King of private eye novels. …

I have an idea for a crime and characters who can set the story in motion. Then, the story ends up going down a dead-end alley, so I have to back up. Sometimes, the characters change roles. They become more or less prominent or even change whether they’re good or bad …

That makes sense now.

Overboard (2022) has no conventional plot that I could discern.

V.I. is — as usual — protecting Chicago’s weak and vulnerable without getting paid.

There are astonishingly well organized bad guys chasing V.I. — as usual — for reasons unclear.

I do like how they push issues of social and political justice. Paretsky makes clear that she hates Trump.

The Chicago setting is excellent. I love that city.

It’s unapologetically set during the pandemic lockdown.

I might keep reading these books. They are strangely compelling, even without a clear storyline.