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 Deadly Allies Books
| Deadly Allies | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Deadly Allies II | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Anthologies
| The Eyes Have It | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Mean Streets | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Beastly Tales | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| City Sleuths and Tough Guys | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Sisters in Crime 3 | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Woman's Eye | (1991) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| 1st Culprit | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Women of Mystery | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Deadly Allies | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Sisters In Crime 5 | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1991 | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Female Sleuths | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1992 | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Great Mystery Series: Top Female Sleuths | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The New Mystery | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| 3rd Culprit | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Seventh Annual Collection | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1993 | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Bad Behavior | (1995) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Women on the Case | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Murder For Love | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| First Cases, Volume 1 | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1995 | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Win, Lose or Die | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Mystery's Most Wanted | (1997) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Women of Mystery III | (1998) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Crime After Crime | (1999) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Oxford Book of Detective Stories | (2000) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century | (2000) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Crime Story Collection | (2000) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Writers on Writing | (2001) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Century of Great Suspense Stories | (2001) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction | (2004) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Sisters on the Case | (2007) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Suspense Magazine December 2013 | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Mystery Writers of America Presents Ice Cold | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Chicago Blues | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Gary Phillips' Hollis for Hire | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Bullets and Other Hurting Things: A Tribute to Bill Crider | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Crime Hits Home | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2022 | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Notes: Blood Shot was published in the United Kingdom as Toxic Shock. Windy City Blues was also published as V.I. for Short.
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.