The Kessler Effect: A Sheriff Gus Mystery

Sheriff Gus has a problem. Maximillian Sagan-robot owner and space entrepreneur-just informed the good officer a murderer is among the guests of his latest garden party. This poses a small problem-as far as Gus can tell, no one's actually been murdered.

Fortified with a stiff drink, a lesson on space economics, and the world's most boring treatise on Greek philosophy, Gus sets out to uncover the killer. Or at least find a body. The situation becomes more urgent when Sagan perishes in an apparent collision with a chunk of falling space debris.

Was Maximillian Sagan just incredibly unlucky, or was he murdered? If he wasn't, who was-or will be-the victim? Gus has plenty of suspects among the Sagan household: an aging actor, a reality TV star, a psychic, Maximillian's third wife, and a wannabe vampire. Gus isn't sure which of them is the villain or which he'd like to see wind up dead.

Identity theft, a sabotaged rocket launch, singularly unhelpful FBI agents, and a crash course in philosophy might lead Gus to a killer. Or drive him to another stiff drink.

For a jaded, mostly honest sheriff, either option sounds good.