Sara Paretsky (born June 8, 1947) is an American author of detective fiction, best known for her novels focused on the protagonist V. I. Warshawski.

Her relationship with her parents was strained; her mother was an alcoholic and her father was a harsh disciplinarian.

Her husband, Courtenay Wright, was a professor of physics at the University of Chicago; the two were together from 1970 until his death in 2018.

Warshawski, and the author is credited with transforming the role and image of women in the crime novel.

[8] She is also considered the founding mother of Sisters in Crime, an organization that supports and promotes women in the mystery field.