Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
Buy a US || UK Copy

Viewers of TNG will all know that Captain Picard likes to unwind in the holosuite playing the part of his favorite hard-boiled detective Dixon Hill. This is a whole novel about just that, and Picard has a real mystery to solve as the Enterprise and unknown area of space called The Blackness and a vital part of a piece of equipment vital to their safety has been stolen. Somewhere in the mean, rain-washed streets of San Francisco lurks a killer and the missing Heart of the Adjuster, but as Dixon Hill, Data and Beverley Crusher search, the bodies just keep piling up - but they don't stay dead!

If you have seen the film "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", you might have some idea of how a spoof hardboiled mystery works and this one works rather well. As the team goes round from one crime boss to another and find yet more bodies, the pattern does become a little samey though, and a little more variety would have made for a better read, but then, this isn't a very long novel and the formula is certainly different to the average Trek story. Guaranteed to raise a smile for all those of you who have ever watched an old film noir or read a Dashiell Hammett novel.