"Sherlockian not of this Earth adventures"

In the far distant future, a dwarf star is crashing into the Delta Karpis System so a fleet of ships leave when the danger becomes too great. One vessel the Polaris carries six dignitaries, but instead of departing the danger zone, it remains inside the doomed system. Later a spaceship investigates only to find the Polaris but without the six passengers or the pilot.

A century later on the planet Rimway, an exhibit of the Polaris that includes recovered objects from the doomed ship is about to go on display or sold off to antique dealers. Alex Benedict and his associate Chase Kalpath buy several of the items before evacuating the building due to a bomb scare that turns real when an explosion destroys the edifice and all it contained. The only Polaris artifacts left are those Alex purchased. From that moment, several attempts to kill Alex and Chase occur while someone is obviously seeking a particular Polaris memento. The beleaguered partners conclude that the remains must include evidence of what happened to the vanished seven. They plan to learn what that is and who wants them dead.

Although Polaris occurs in the future in outer space thus providing a science fiction background, the story line is a classic style investigative tale with Alex serving as an amateur sleuth Holmes and Chase as Watson. The likeable duo hooks readers as they struggle to find out what is going on and why. Though a stand-alone novel, the dynamic duo sleuthing in an outer space setting deserves a series so hopefully Jack McDevitt receives a Hugo nomination to encourage him to bring back Alex and Chase for more Sherlockian not of this Earth adventures.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 15, 2004

Summary

The luxury space yacht Polaris carried an elite group of the wealthy and curious thousands of light-years from Earth to witness a spectacular stellar phenomenon. It never returned. The search party sent to investigate found the Polaris empty and adrift in space, the fate of its pilot and passengers a mystery. Sixty years later, prominent antiquities dealer Alex Benedict is determined to find the truth about Polaris-no matter how far he must travel across the stars, no matter the risk.