'A novel full of surprises... It's vintage Paretsky, and hard to put down' - The Sunday Times Named Top 10 Thriller of 2020 by KirkusChicago is the city of broad shoulders, but V.I.Warshawski knows its politics: "Pay to Play". Money changes hands in the middle of the night; by morning, buildings and parks have been replaced by billion-dollar projects. Private investigator V.I. gets pulled into one of these clandestine deals when her impetuous goddaughter Bernie tries to rescue a famed singer-songwriter, now living on the streets.Thanks to Bernie, V.I. finds herself in the path of some developers whose negotiating strategy is simple: they bulldoze - or kill - any obstacle in their way. Questions pile up almost as fast as the dead bodies.When she tries to answer them, the detective finds a terrifying conspiracy stretching from Chicago's parks to a cover-up of the dark chapters in the American government's interference in South American politics.Before finds answer, V.I. will be pushed closed to breaking point. People who pay to play take no prisoners.