Another good read with VI Warshawsky as the main character. This one finds Victoria caught up in the web of a corporate giant BySmart, a fire at a southside garment factory and the murder of two people connected to BySmart. She is also substituting as a basketball coach in this same community. Excellant read.

(2005)Very good VI Warshwaski story about her coaching a girl's basketball team and the involvement of a Wal-Mart like company and its owner-family in the destruction of a factory whose owner would not go along with their strong-arm tactics to cut his prices on goods sold to them.

First edition as new

Victoria Warshawski es una investigadora privada que procede de los barrios del sur de Chicago donde la inmigracion, las drogas, los embarazos adolescentes y el absentismo escolar son una constante. Aquejada de cáncer, la entrenadora de baloncesto del instituto donde ella estudio le pide que asuma el control del equipo femenino y Warshawski no puede negarse. Este regreso a South Chicago supone una dolorosa vuelta al pasado...

This one was pretty enjoyable.

We have VI dealing with being forced to volunteer (voluntold) as a basketball coach at her old high school.

Not only does she have to deal with girls who are in gangs and others who are trying to raise kids, she gets pulled into a family dispute among the rich when she goes looking for donations to help with equipment, uniforms, and other essentials for the team.

I also like how Paretsky works in VI's long term romance with her boyfriend Morello at this point. I liked we get to see VI making it work with someone and also becoming jealous when a colleague (female) from his times overseas comes to stay. We have a lot of interesting characters in this one and though I found some of the things that happened implausible (hence the 4 stars) I really did enjoy this one. ( )