Dead land

Chicago 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 Money changes hands in the middle of the night; by morning, buildings and parks have been replaced by billion-dollar projects.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.