Booze and the “Tough Broad” Dick

In defending the convivial connections between tippling fictional sleuths and their creators who also like to tip back a few--if not more--Sara Paretsky (Fire Sale) notes that, early in the career of her Chicago private eye, V.I. Warshawski, “a lot of people objected, loudly, to her drinking.” But things have changed, as the author explains in The Outfit blog:

When I first created V.I., I gave her my own Scotch, Johnny Walker Black. As the years have gone by, I find myself able to drink less and less--a glass of wine with dinner is my sorry limit. Without realizing it, I’ve cut back V.I.’s rations as well. A reader recently wrote to complain that V.I. Warshawski--wasn’t drinking enough. I’m going to up the girl detective’s intake--she works hard, she’s fitter than I am, tougher in every way--I’m going to give her back her whisky bottle. But she will remain, as she always has been, a careful drinker: she doesn’t drink and drive, and when she’s hit on the head, she always has a hot sweet drink, sans booze. I worry that while this makes her more credible as a person, though, it sadly diminishes her noir credentials.

Read the whole post here.