ISBN: 1504099338 9781504099332

Category: Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera

Page count: 232

<p> <b>A young detective probes a puzzling murder on board an intergalactic pleasure palace in this science fiction mystery by a five-time Hugo Award–winning author.</b> <br> Welcome to the <i>Velvet Comet</i>, whose business is its patrons' pleasure. Owned by the vast Vainmill Syndicate, the space station caters to the rich and famous, boasting casinos, upscale restaurants, a two-mile-long shopping mall, and a team of highly trained sex workers. It's a well-oiled machine, functioning twenty-four hours a day—until one of its guests is murdered. <br> The Syndicate dispatches its chief detective, Andrew Jackson Crane, to solve the case—and prevent a publicity nightmare. But the ambitious detective must navigate a twisted path to bring the killer to justice. The <i>Comet</i>'s madam, the Black Pearl, is under orders to aid Crane's work—but with more than five hundred self-centered patrons remaining on board, she has other worries. The Dragon Lady, the <i>Comet</i>'s head of security, is torn between her loyalties and her judgment. And the <i>Comet</i>'s computer, which should be most helpful in the investigation, is actually more interested in psychoanalyzing Crane. <br> But what's even more troubling to Crane is that the killer hasn't left the station. Perhaps they all have more work to do . . . <br> <b>"As good as its predecessor and in some ways even better. Well plotted, good characterizations, and an exotic setting. As good a mystery novel as it is science fiction." — <i>Science Fiction Chronicle</i> <br> The perfect choice for readers of Alan Dean Foster, Timothy Zahn, and Joe Haldeman.</b> </p>