Montine presents an astrology-themed SF thriller.

The year is 2105. Humans have created settlements on planets throughout the solar system. Pluto has a domed city called Nyx, where people walk around in spacesuits. It takes five years to get to Pluto from Earth, but technology allows people to “visit” via android bodies (while they remain physically on Earth, astral projection places their consciousnesses in robot bodies on the far-flung sphere). This is how Eloise Mayer ventures to Pluto for an investigation. Eloise has a doctorate in astrological studies (“including astrochemistry and astrophysics”) and she is needed for a murder investigation due to her educational background. The victim was involved in the worship of Pluto. This is just the first of several murders linked to planets and mythology—in Las Vegas, several bodies turn up ina murder scene that was apparently a tribute to Ouranos. Eloise believes some sort of network may be responsible for the murders; things turn personal when her husband winds up dead. The settings and the unusual killings make for compelling, often unexpected material—even in the future, a place like Pluto can only be tamed so much. (Despite its advanced structures, in 245 years’ time the planet’s surface will crumble when it gets too close to the sun.) Likewise, the inclusion of characters who worship planets and take myths seriously opens upall sorts of possibilities. (One characterwinds up in a Greek temple and feels that the “moon goddess was speaking to her through her life force!”) However, the story is not always well paced. Tension comes and goes; at one point, Eloise spends a whole month moping around her apartment. She tends to make obvious statements, as when explaining to someone that her brother is “six feet. He just looks taller because you are so short.” Such scenes, no matter how realistic, do not add much to the more pressing issue of murders linked to ancient beliefs.

A detailed, futuristic detective story that is anything but typical.