HARDBALL SUMMARY
2026–2027 – PLOT,
CHARACTERS, THEMES &
KEY EVENTS
Comprehensive Examination: Hardball by Sara
Paretsky
Instructions
This examination covers Sara Paretsky's 2009 novel Hardball, the thirteenth installment
in the V.I. Warshawski series. The exam is divided into eight sections testing knowledge
of plot, characters, themes, setting, and key events. Correct answers are bolded, and
each question includes a rationale explaining why that answer is correct.
Section 1: Plot Overview and Structure (Questions 1-25)
1. What is the central cold case that V.I. Warshawski investigates in Hardball?
A) The murder of a Chicago police officer
B) The disappearance of Lamont Gadsden, a young Black man missing for over
forty years
C) The theft of valuable artwork from a South Side church
D) The assassination of a civil rights leader
Rationale: The novel's primary plot involves V.I. being hired to find Lamont Gadsden, who
vanished in January 1967 during a snowstorm .
,2. Who hires V.I. to investigate the cold case?
A) The Chicago Police Department
B) A local newspaper reporter
C) Pastor Karen Lennon, on behalf of Lamont's elderly mother and aunt
D) A political campaign committee
Rationale: Pastor Karen Lennon, chaplain to Lionsgate Manor nursing home, asks V.I. to
help Ella Gadsden and her ailing sister Claudia Ardenne find out what happened to
Lamont .
3. What event serves as the historical backdrop for the mystery?
A) The 1968 Democratic National Convention
B) The 1966 civil rights marches in Chicago led by Martin Luther King Jr.
C) The 1970 Kent State shootings
D) The 1965 Watts riots
Rationale: The novel is set against the tumultuous summer of 1966, when Martin Luther
King Jr. led civil rights marches through Chicago's Southwest Side and was met with
violent white riots .
4. What is the significance of the title "Hardball"?
A) It refers to a baseball game V.I. attends
B) It contrasts Chicago's unique 16-inch slow-pitch softball with the ruthless
"hardball" played in politics, business, and law enforcement
C) It describes V.I.'s aggressive interrogation technique
D) It refers to a type of pitch in professional baseball
Rationale: The publisher description explains that while Chicago's unique brand of ball is
sixteen-inch slow pitch, "in politics, in business, and in law enforcement, the game is
hardball" .
5. How many years have passed since Lamont Gadsden disappeared when the
novel begins?
A) Twenty years
B) Thirty years
C) Over forty years
D) Fifty years
Rationale: Multiple sources confirm Lamont disappeared over four decades before the
novel's events, specifically in January 1967 .
6. What natural event coincided with Lamont Gadsden's disappearance?
A) A heat wave
B) A January snowstorm
C) An earthquake
,D) A tornado
Rationale: Lamont was a low-level gang member who disappeared the night before a
January 1967 snowstorm .
7. What does V.I. discover about her father Tony Warshawski during the
investigation?
A) He was a decorated war hero
B) He was the arresting officer in a racially charged murder case connected to
Lamont's disappearance
C) He had secretly worked for the FBI
D) He was born in a different country
Rationale: V.I. learns that her adored father was the arresting officer in the case of Steve
Sawyer, who was convicted of murdering Harmony Newsome during the 1966 riots .
8. Who is Petra, and why does she come to Chicago?
A) A childhood friend of V.I. seeking help
B) V.I.'s young cousin from Kansas City, in town to work on a senatorial campaign
C) A journalist investigating police corruption
D) A client who hires V.I. for a separate case
Rationale: Petra is V.I.'s twenty-something cousin from Kansas City who arrives in Chicago
to intern on the Senate campaign of Brian Krumas .
9. What happens to Petra during the novel?
A) She returns to Kansas City after a disagreement
B) She disappears after a break-in at V.I.'s office
C) She is arrested for political espionage
D) She takes over V.I.'s investigation
Rationale: Petra goes missing after V.I.'s office is ransacked, leading V.I. to race against
time to rescue her .
10. What item belonging to V.I.'s father becomes significant to the investigation?
A) A police badge
B) A battered baseball
C) A photograph of Martin Luther King Jr.
D) A handwritten letter
Rationale: V.I. discovers a battered baseball among her late father's belongings, which
serves as both a MacGuffin and a key to her personal history .
11. Who was Harmony Newsome?
A) A police informant
B) A young Black woman killed during the 1966 Marquette Park riots
, C) Lamont Gadsden's girlfriend
D) A nun who marched with Dr. King
Rationale: Harmony Newsome was a young Black woman murdered during the 1966 civil
rights demonstrations, and her death connects to Lamont's disappearance .
12. Who was convicted of Harmony Newsome's murder?
A) Lamont Gadsden
B) Johnny Merton
C) Steve Sawyer
D) Tony Warshawski
Rationale: Steve Sawyer, Lamont's friend, was convicted of the crime on sparse evidence
and later disappeared following his murder conviction .
13. What role did Lamont Gadsden play in the civil rights movement?
A) He was a police infiltrator
B) He was a gang member who became one of Dr. King's personal bodyguards
C) He was a journalist covering the marches
D) He was a politician's aide
Rationale: Lamont was in a Black street gang whose members became Dr. King's personal
bodyguards and was at his side in Marquette Park .
14. What happens to the nun who marched with Dr. King before V.I. can fully
interview her?
A) She moves to another state
B) She dies after a firebomb attack
C) She refuses to speak with V.I.
D) She is arrested for obstruction
Rationale: A key witness, a Dominican nun named Frankie who marched with King, dies in
V.I.'s arms after a firebomb attack .
15. Who is Brian Krumas?
A) A police detective assigned to the cold case
B) A charismatic senatorial candidate with family ties to V.I.'s uncle
C) A gang leader V.I. once defended
D) A journalist investigating the Warshawski family
Rationale: Brian Krumas is the Kennedy-esque political candidate whose campaign Petra
works on, and his family has connections to V.I.'s uncle .
16. What connection exists between Brian Krumas and V.I.'s family?
A) He is V.I.'s estranged brother
B) His father Harvey was an old friend of V.I.'s uncle
2026–2027 – PLOT,
CHARACTERS, THEMES &
KEY EVENTS
Comprehensive Examination: Hardball by Sara
Paretsky
Instructions
This examination covers Sara Paretsky's 2009 novel Hardball, the thirteenth installment
in the V.I. Warshawski series. The exam is divided into eight sections testing knowledge
of plot, characters, themes, setting, and key events. Correct answers are bolded, and
each question includes a rationale explaining why that answer is correct.
Section 1: Plot Overview and Structure (Questions 1-25)
1. What is the central cold case that V.I. Warshawski investigates in Hardball?
A) The murder of a Chicago police officer
B) The disappearance of Lamont Gadsden, a young Black man missing for over
forty years
C) The theft of valuable artwork from a South Side church
D) The assassination of a civil rights leader
Rationale: The novel's primary plot involves V.I. being hired to find Lamont Gadsden, who
vanished in January 1967 during a snowstorm .
,2. Who hires V.I. to investigate the cold case?
A) The Chicago Police Department
B) A local newspaper reporter
C) Pastor Karen Lennon, on behalf of Lamont's elderly mother and aunt
D) A political campaign committee
Rationale: Pastor Karen Lennon, chaplain to Lionsgate Manor nursing home, asks V.I. to
help Ella Gadsden and her ailing sister Claudia Ardenne find out what happened to
Lamont .
3. What event serves as the historical backdrop for the mystery?
A) The 1968 Democratic National Convention
B) The 1966 civil rights marches in Chicago led by Martin Luther King Jr.
C) The 1970 Kent State shootings
D) The 1965 Watts riots
Rationale: The novel is set against the tumultuous summer of 1966, when Martin Luther
King Jr. led civil rights marches through Chicago's Southwest Side and was met with
violent white riots .
4. What is the significance of the title "Hardball"?
A) It refers to a baseball game V.I. attends
B) It contrasts Chicago's unique 16-inch slow-pitch softball with the ruthless
"hardball" played in politics, business, and law enforcement
C) It describes V.I.'s aggressive interrogation technique
D) It refers to a type of pitch in professional baseball
Rationale: The publisher description explains that while Chicago's unique brand of ball is
sixteen-inch slow pitch, "in politics, in business, and in law enforcement, the game is
hardball" .
5. How many years have passed since Lamont Gadsden disappeared when the
novel begins?
A) Twenty years
B) Thirty years
C) Over forty years
D) Fifty years
Rationale: Multiple sources confirm Lamont disappeared over four decades before the
novel's events, specifically in January 1967 .
6. What natural event coincided with Lamont Gadsden's disappearance?
A) A heat wave
B) A January snowstorm
C) An earthquake
,D) A tornado
Rationale: Lamont was a low-level gang member who disappeared the night before a
January 1967 snowstorm .
7. What does V.I. discover about her father Tony Warshawski during the
investigation?
A) He was a decorated war hero
B) He was the arresting officer in a racially charged murder case connected to
Lamont's disappearance
C) He had secretly worked for the FBI
D) He was born in a different country
Rationale: V.I. learns that her adored father was the arresting officer in the case of Steve
Sawyer, who was convicted of murdering Harmony Newsome during the 1966 riots .
8. Who is Petra, and why does she come to Chicago?
A) A childhood friend of V.I. seeking help
B) V.I.'s young cousin from Kansas City, in town to work on a senatorial campaign
C) A journalist investigating police corruption
D) A client who hires V.I. for a separate case
Rationale: Petra is V.I.'s twenty-something cousin from Kansas City who arrives in Chicago
to intern on the Senate campaign of Brian Krumas .
9. What happens to Petra during the novel?
A) She returns to Kansas City after a disagreement
B) She disappears after a break-in at V.I.'s office
C) She is arrested for political espionage
D) She takes over V.I.'s investigation
Rationale: Petra goes missing after V.I.'s office is ransacked, leading V.I. to race against
time to rescue her .
10. What item belonging to V.I.'s father becomes significant to the investigation?
A) A police badge
B) A battered baseball
C) A photograph of Martin Luther King Jr.
D) A handwritten letter
Rationale: V.I. discovers a battered baseball among her late father's belongings, which
serves as both a MacGuffin and a key to her personal history .
11. Who was Harmony Newsome?
A) A police informant
B) A young Black woman killed during the 1966 Marquette Park riots
, C) Lamont Gadsden's girlfriend
D) A nun who marched with Dr. King
Rationale: Harmony Newsome was a young Black woman murdered during the 1966 civil
rights demonstrations, and her death connects to Lamont's disappearance .
12. Who was convicted of Harmony Newsome's murder?
A) Lamont Gadsden
B) Johnny Merton
C) Steve Sawyer
D) Tony Warshawski
Rationale: Steve Sawyer, Lamont's friend, was convicted of the crime on sparse evidence
and later disappeared following his murder conviction .
13. What role did Lamont Gadsden play in the civil rights movement?
A) He was a police infiltrator
B) He was a gang member who became one of Dr. King's personal bodyguards
C) He was a journalist covering the marches
D) He was a politician's aide
Rationale: Lamont was in a Black street gang whose members became Dr. King's personal
bodyguards and was at his side in Marquette Park .
14. What happens to the nun who marched with Dr. King before V.I. can fully
interview her?
A) She moves to another state
B) She dies after a firebomb attack
C) She refuses to speak with V.I.
D) She is arrested for obstruction
Rationale: A key witness, a Dominican nun named Frankie who marched with King, dies in
V.I.'s arms after a firebomb attack .
15. Who is Brian Krumas?
A) A police detective assigned to the cold case
B) A charismatic senatorial candidate with family ties to V.I.'s uncle
C) A gang leader V.I. once defended
D) A journalist investigating the Warshawski family
Rationale: Brian Krumas is the Kennedy-esque political candidate whose campaign Petra
works on, and his family has connections to V.I.'s uncle .
16. What connection exists between Brian Krumas and V.I.'s family?
A) He is V.I.'s estranged brother
B) His father Harvey was an old friend of V.I.'s uncle
