Bad Company    by Sara Paretsky Order:  USA  Can Minotaur, 2026 (2026) Hardcover, e-Book      Reviewed by Hilary Williamson I've been awed by Sara Paretsky's long running V.I. Warshawski feminine mysteries over the years, but she's outdone herself with this remarkable new thriller, starring seventy-something former CIA field agent Lily Sedak in Chicago. Her forty year career was spent in Central Asia including in Hayalistan, 'a geopolitical pivot point' once part of the USSR. Lily 'embraced the country, the people, the great mountain that shadowed over their lives'. We learn that she had a close romantic relationship with tribal leader Rani, who became the country's first elected president. Because their connection became known, Lily was posted to northern India, and there was a coup. Rani was assumed killed. Bad Company opens with Lily escaping FBI agents, with the help of street people. She'd been on the run for months, after receiving a New Yorker article, Letter from Ts'gali, including a photo of her bathing in Lake Sakin with Hayali women in a secret and sacred moon ritual. The article blames the American in the lake for the country's current problem. Lily wonders who provided the picture and who sent her the magazine. She's determined to find answers, including to find out what really happened to Rani and also to an Australian mining analyst who was killed. Lily contacts CIA analyst Marissa Hockney, once a friend, and is warned off. So she goes back to Hayalistan, where she's up against not only the CIA but also student activists; a US company mining lithium; and Rani's hostile cousin Anta who blames Lily for his death. Of course, we know that Lily will get the answers and closure she seeks but her journey to do is is exciting and enthralling and leads to her hearing Rani's voice one last time. Bad Company is the best mystery I've read in a very long time. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews