Recovery Man, and The Retrieval Artist, both by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
Fair warning, once you've read either of those and done any digging, you'll realize I'm pulling that old reader's fast one: I'm talking about books in a series, and without reference to the order of the series.
Which, ok, but I have an answer for that. In this series, Rusch pulls off that wonderful trick of writing each book in such a way that I dove into Recovery Man completely blind to the Retrieval Artist series, and enjoyed it so much I bought The Retrieval Artist as soon as I was done.
Let me back up. Gather round children, and let me tell you of the olden times... the before times... those ancient days when you could pack up a bag of books you'd finished, wander to your used book store, and wander out with a handful of books you hadn't read before.
You know. February.
Which was when this particular group of readers had our last trip to Half Price Books in person. We wandered down on what was supposed to be a shelf clearing expedition. And I came out with Recovery Man stashed in with the rest of the books that claimed our cash.
I didn't clue in to that Recovery Man was in the middle of a series until a couple chapters in. But by then, just like a Travis McGee, a Nero Wolfe, a Columbo, Rusch had me set up perfectly.
I knew these folks, I knew where they'd come from. And I wanted very much to find out what happened to them.
Detectives. In space. With kidnappings, a too-smart for her own good teenager trapped in an AI house, and a race between rocket ships, hey now.
And Rusch always with that subtle eye, that comfortable nudge in the ribs... you know the one, when your best friend and you both notice the odd things, the little troubles that no one else seems to pick up on? This is a future where edge cases and friction bearing surfaces, people, struggle to find spaces to survive.
So yeah, the next book is waiting in my to-be-read pile. I'm in. Thank you, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, for the Retrieval Artist and the world he lives in.
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Please keep it on the sane side. There are an awful lot of places on the internet for discussions of politics, money, sex, religion, etc. etc. et bloody cetera. In this time and place, let us talk about something else, and politely, please.