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### From Booklist The search for a woman who has become Disappeared because of her involvement in the Etaen civil war--unusually, because she was pardoned--turns into a nasty murder case and a diplomatic incident. Retrieval artist Miles Flint's former partner heads the police investigation, and while Miles can't help her, his curiosity and conscience compel him to nab the perps, too. The Disappeared and her parents were murdered not long after Miles reunited them, and superficial evidence fingers Miles. But it's more complicated, of course. Indeed, the case is the kind of tangled web only PIs are comfortable with, for although the civil war has officially ended, it actually continues as long as there are witnesses to murders connected with it. The arrival on the moon of a delegation to make the Etaen bid to enter the Alliance complicates matters, but Miles is a good detective and an unusual retrieval artist who cares about the consequences of bringing a Disappeared out of hiding. Rusch mounts hard-boiled noir on an expansive sf background with great panache. *Regina Schroeder* *Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved*