The Case of the Colonist's Corpse
Star Trek S.
By Bob Ingersoll & Tony Isabella

   A Star Trek whodunit? I am amazed that there hasn't been a whole lot of them, for the marriage of this popular series with the well-loved genre of crime is obviously going to be a very happy one. With its red-stained pages and cover, it looks like one of those pulp paperbacks from the golden age of crime fiction, and therefore hard to resist. Set during the original series, this is a case for the irascible and iconoclastic Samuel T Cogley, the lawyer who got Kirk off from a court-martial charge. Aneher II is a planet shared by the Klingons and the Federation under terms dictated by the Organian Peace Treaty. The colonists on both sides have worked hard to make something out of an overheated hell of a planet, but all is not well. Are the Klingons cheating by drafting in new mine workers and is there a spy about? Unpopular Administrator Daniel Latham has his work cut out for him to oversee such a hotbed of unrest, but surely nobody would hate him enough to murder him? A Klingon bending over his dead body with a phaser seems the most likely suspect, but as Cogley is going to defend him the show isn't over yet…

    There is a lot to enjoy in here, from the broadly sketched planet Aneher II and its denizens to the whodunit plot itself. Kirk gets to woo an old lady friend, there is a compelling trial scene (very Perry Mason) and of course the build-up to the murder with various suspects being introduced. It isn't a fat plot, but I wondered whether any sequels (yes please) would put that right, honing the suspense and adding another plot strand or two. It's a good effort for a first in a new series, or as a stand-alone within the framework of this vast invented universe. Not great, but I hope to get the chance to read another.