Read Recently
Cards on the Table: a Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie
While out on the town, Poirot meets the aptly-named Mr. Shaitana, who goes for the Mephistophelian look and is sort of, as was said of the Fabulous Hoplite in Absolute Beginners, "Our own low-rent Oscar Wilde". Shaitana, struck by an idea in his conversation with Poirot, invites him to dinner with four people he knows who have all gotten away with murder, in one fashion or another. He also invites three other sleuths, one of whom, Ariadne Oliver, is obviously a satirical version of Christie herself!
After dinner, the group splits up into two Bridge games, one in each room, sleuths against sleuths and murderers against murderers. Mr Shaitana remains in the room with the murderers, where, of course, he is murdered. Which of the four killers did it? And which of the four sleuths will solve it?
Recommended.
Moreau Omnibus: Forests of the Night, Emperors of the Twilight, Specters of the Dawn by S. Andrew Swann
I read Forests of the Night some years ago, and a while later found Emperors of the Twilight. Ordinarely, I wouldn't buy a three volume omnibus if I already owned two-thirds of it, but this is the only place I have been able to find Specters of the Dawn anywhere! So I grabbed it, and reread both of the first books just so that everything made sense, but I'm only counting it as one book.
In Forests, we meet the Private Investigator Nohar Rajasthan, who is a bengal tiger. It's the middle of the 21st century, and genetic engineering has changed the face of the world. Genetically engineered humanoid animals, called "Moreaus" or "Moreys", were bred for war just about all over the world until the Pope announced that they had souls. The U.S. having both banned such research and granted Moreys all protections of the Bill of Rights, is flooded with refugee animals. Nohar's parents are among them. The other main genetic offspring is genetically altered humans, called "Frankensteins" (of course), or "Franks". Nohar, having been screwed by a client, is hired by a Frank to investigate the murder of a politician's campaign manager. The client fears that his own corporation is responsible for the murder, and wants Nohar to find out one way or another. In the noir tradition, Nohar rapidly gets in over his head, and finds corruption both corporate and political. He rescues the rabbit Moreau Angel Lopez from certain death, and interacts with federal agent and frankenstein Evi Isham. It's a fun story, but unfortunately this copy is riddled with typos.
In Emperors, Evi is the central character. It's five or six years after the previous book, and Evi has spent the time since working for a task force relating to events in that story. At the start of the book, she is working out on her balcony when she notices that she's being watched from a nearby building. Since she works out naked, she's used to that. But something about this guy looks suspicious, and soon she is under attack by a sniper and by a force of ex-Afghani dog Moreaus, who seem to want to kidnap her. She escapes, and tries to come in out of the cold, but the agency claims not to know her. More than that would have to contain spoilers.
In Specters, Angel has moved to San Francisco. She gets involved with a good-looking, charismatic fox, who unfortunately is killed by what the cops assume is a group of human racists (who did assault Angel on the day she met the fox). While she tries to figure out who really did kill him, and why, she also gets caught up in the politics surrounding the 2060 election.
Overall, all three books are a fun, quick read. The future of this series is fairly well planned out, and Swann manages to avoid too much infodumping at a time. I'd recommend buying this volume if you're interested, since otherwise you'll have to haunt the used bookstores. On the other hand, if the single volumes are free of the typoes that mar the first part of this volume, that might be the better plan if you're as easily annoyed by them as I am.