Detective in a Strange Land

Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy , Fiction

I love a good mystery novel.  Likewise, a piece of science fiction, especially one with an anthropological bent, really makes me want to curl up and read all night.  Books that straddle the gap between these two genres:  pure bliss.

I recently found Paloma, a new book in the Retrieval Artist series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.  I was so happy to see a new one is out, because I tore through the other four in the series last summer, reveling in the mystery plots centered around humanity's interaction with various species of aliens and the ensuing political and legal conflicts. 

The Retrieval Artist books hold echoes of several of my favorite authors.  The descriptions of alien interactions reminded me of  the fiction of David Brin and Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, and the books are at their strongest when they treat this subject.  The veteran detective combined with a much younger rookie keeps to the classic detective novel convention, but its experienced man/new woman dynamic reminds me of such well-loved pairs as Lynley and Havers in the work of Elizabeth George and Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James.

Rusch's world is extremely detailed and many of the plots can be better understood with some background from previous books.  I would definitely suggest one start with The Disappeared to understand the whys and hows of what a retrieval artist is. From there one can follow the characters as they confront the continuing problem of what is really just in a universe where diverse alien species each have a different definition of justice.