Peripheral People

Two interstellar police officers must work with a pair of psychics to stop a serial killer in this adequate romantic SF novel, the fourth in Herberth and Moore’s Ylendrian Empire series (after In Discretion). Corwin and Nika, cops in the planet-hopping Imperial Enforcement Coalition, have worked together for a long time. Corwin has never been willing to work with psychics, which limits the extent of their investigations. Collaborating with Westley, a powerful mind reader, and his partner Gavin, who anchors Westley to outer reality, initially strikes Corwin as a terrible idea, but Gavin and Nika form a relationship quickly, and a case of telepathic serial murder brings Corwin and Westley together, even as political difficulties and their own issues keep them apart. The tangles of the plot are confusing and the writing drags, but the undeniable chemistry among the leads provides some amusement. (May)