Soma Blues

His Alternative Detective Agency barely scrapes by, but Ibiza-based Hob Draconian knows how to travel on the cheap. In his latest offbeat adventure (following The Alternative Detective, 1996), Hob is staying with a Paris woman he no longer likes, but who provides free rent. A French police inspector buys him dinner in exchange for information about a murder victim from Ibiza. The dead man carried a tiny green bottle identical to the type Hob used in his younger, hashish-trading years. Returning to Ibiza, Hob finds a new drug, soma, about to hit the world market, perhaps in connection with a hotel opening for which his friend Nigel is supplying undistinguished paintings in bulk. The plot is clever enough, although climactic threats dog Hob as perils did Pauline, and recall sequences from the Beatles' Help! The real pleasure here is the international world Hob inhabits. He sponges off a London friend whose neighborhood is ""noted for its antique shops and race riots."" In Paris, he thanks God that even police interrogations are conducted over a glass of wine. And of course, there's Ibiza, home to old hippies and nouveau yuppies, where a friend of Hob's ""liked the idea of being a useful citizen, if it could be made amusing and if it paid."" (Apr.)