SEARCH FOR THE DEVERAUX

In this SF mystery, a valuable mining company ship, missing in Saturn’s rings for more than a decade, attracts the attention of an amateur sleuth when one of the craft’s escape pods is recovered with a freshly slain corpse inside.

In Hendrix’s second installment of a series, Alejandro “Al” Detweiler is the proverbial farm boy (the family farm is on the moon) who left for the more adventuresome opportunities in Saturn’s wide-open environment. A culture has risen there via enterprising (and corruptible) humans, mining the precious substance “transactinide.” Though an “Aerospace Guard” on search-and-rescue assignments, Al tends to be present when criminal mischief occurs and he has something of a reputation as a detective. Such is the case with a clue involving a 12-year-old mystery, the enigma of the Deveraux. This was an elite corporate vessel, supposedly carrying a fortune in contraband, that suffered inexplicable guidance malfunction and plunged into the chaos of Saturn’s primary ring and disappeared. Now, a fresh space shipwreck, the Anderson, is found with half of the crew missing—and an escape pod from the Deveraux floating in space nearby. Inside the pod is an Anderson crewman—stabbed to death. Was the Anderson on an unauthorized treasure hunt for the Deveraux and its legendary bonanza? Appointed to assist the investigation, Al probes decade-old secrets, imposters, smugglers, and scoundrels. The hero narrates in a fairly dispassionate style—neo-gumshoe hardboiled stuff is only in trace-element doses (“The System Police had done more than remove everything not bolted down. Forensic technicians had examined this room since I was last here, going through with scraper, lens, and brush”). The setting is one where “gravity reigned throughout the Saturn System, holding all to its will. In some places its touch was light, in others its grip as harsh as frozen stone.” Yet the prose eschews heavy astrophysics jargon. Readers comfortable with crime fiction who have a military/naval/JAG background might feel at home here, more so than typical SF fans. What could dampen their jets, though, is an ambiguous ending (more of a howdunit than a whodunit overall), with loose ends, some nefarious characters offstage, and dark repercussions for Al down the line. Future installments of this smart, engaging, genre-crossing series are planned.

A clever, intricate, and low-key SF thriller about a space treasure hunt gone bad.