1982 was a stellar year in crime fiction. In that year Sue Grafton, with "A is for Alibi" and Sara Paretsky, with "Indemnity Only", initiated detective fiction series featuring women PIs that have extended for more than 20 volumes each. Grafton passed away in 2017 before completing her alphabet-based series featuring Kinsey Millhone, but thankfully for us, Paretsky continues to produce first-rate V.I. Warshawski novels.

Unlike Millhone, who stayed firmly rooted in the 1980's, V.I. Warshawski has moved forward with the times, and in deference to aging, takes longer to recover from her strenuous encounters with the bad guys. But her ethical core remains as strong as it was 40 years ago, and is the driving force behind the action in every book.

[b:Critical Mass|17707673|Critical Mass (V.I. Warshawski, #16)|Sara Paretsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1366555352l/17707673._SY75_.jpg|24757203] was published in 2013 and is one of the more memorable entries in the series. As is typical for a Warshawski novel, multiple plot lines link together the past and the present. In this case, the past is research into atomic power in Austria just before and during WWII, and the present is drug addiction in the Midwest. What links them in Vic's friend Lotty Herschel, who escaped Vienna as a child and is now a Chicago physician.

Also typical for these novels is a complex plot that revolves in part around some esoteric topic, this time developments in physics in the 1930s and 1940s. The vagaries of human nature also factor in, and it is up to Vic to sort it all out, while keeping herself and her loved ones alive.

So glad that I have a backlog of Warshawski novels to read. Where the Kinsey Millhone stories became somewhat tired over time, there seems to be no end to the topics that interest Paretsky and her ability to turn those interests into excellent fiction. ( )

I got interested in the V.I. Warshawki novels when it was mentioned somewhere that the author, Sara Paretsky, had a PhD from the University of Chicago, my alma mater. I haven’t read all the novels, but I’m working at them. You can’t say too much about a mystery novel, less spoilers, but these are pretty good; the Chicago I was familiar with comes through. Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski has been described as a female Mike Hammer, but that doesn’t fit at all; I don’t imagine Mike Hammer being a classical opera fan. There’s a little bit too much gunplay for my taste, the villain is telegraphed, and Warshawki’s habit of getting sassy with police is getting excessive – but these are genre conventions. The nuclear physics and computer science history are all correct – as far as I can tell. Enjoyable, I’ll be working through the rest of the novels. ( )

This series was recommended to me back when I was reading Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series. It took me a few years but I did finally decide to start the series--so now I'm trying to read them in order. I found this entry in the series to be better than most of the others.

This book switches between Vienna (and other areas) during the time around WWII and V.I.'s present day (whenever that is). We do get to know more about Lotty Herschel's history as well as a little bit about the nuclear programs in place around the time of WWII and possibly early computer history (though I don't know enough about computer history to know whether what's mentioned here is real or fictional).

I never figured out why Martina called Gertrude Memmler "The Memmler". It would have been one thing if it was only in her thoughts, but she also used that in conversation.

Allison seemed very naive. ( )

After the last book in the VI Warshawski series I was tempted to just leave the series alone. But I am a completionist at heart and finally just buckled and bought this book. This one actually hangs together very well. VI is focused on figuring out how a daughter of one of Lotty's childhood playmates is doing after it looks like she may be in danger. The plot revolves around that, pre and post War World II, and the arms race. There were so many lines in this book that I found myself loving.

"Critical Mass" has a 50 year old or 50 plus year old VI off to help a childhood friend of Lotty's daughter. Lotty actually washed her hands of the friend and though she tried to help the daughter, eventually gave up on that too. When VI shows up at a meth house, she finds a man dead (the scene described is stomach turning) and realizes the woman is missing. From there VI finds out the woman's son is also now missing and huge tech giant is scared he has stolen their plans and is out there selling his secrets to the highest bidder.

VI does what she does best, asks questions, and goes investigating via libraries, the internet, and just using old fashioned intuition to put two and two together. She manages to once again find herself in a gun standoff (seriously that part is getting old) and once again has to deal with being so run down and tired but managing to push through. One wonders though when VI is going to just have to retire. I cannot see her still taking punches and getting shot in her 70s. It's already pushing realms of belief that she is able to walk after some of her run ins.

VI is still in a romance with Jake. I do like him and was surprised to see how well they mesh.

The secondary characters of Lotty and Max were welcomed. I was so glad to see Petra (VI's cousin) banished to the Peace Corps. I wish Mr. Contreas would go with Petra. I don't see how a guy pushing 90 is even doing running around with VI.

The writing was good and of course we get some historical facts mixed in to make this more realistic. I do love that Paretsky has made VI an unapologetic feminist and pushes for more individual rights over the government, cops, and anyone that could oppress them. Even though these are fictional characters, reading about what the fictional Nazis did to people during the Holocaust was awful.

The flow was actually pretty good in this one and I was able to follow the plot easily enough.

The setting of Chicago continues to surprise and Paretsky manages to make things fresh.

There were some surprises here and there and the ending was a surprise. We find out a lot of secrets that even the main participants in this one didn't know. ( )

Warshawski is involved with Dr. Lottie's childhood aquaintance in the search for a young computer genius and the history of modern computers. ( )