Ecolitan Enigma

Best known for his popular Recluse fantasy series, Modesitt harkens back, after seven years, to the setting of his Ecolitan Matter SF series (The Ecolitan Succession, 1990, etc.). Ecolitan Institute economist and sometime intelligence agent Professor Nathaniel Firstborn Whaler survives a sloppy assassination attempt and is sent to a distant colony world with Sylvia Ferro-Maine, the ex-Imperial agent he recruited on his last job. Though their official task is to evaluate the planet's economic viability, they're soon involved in the political intrigue occasioned by the colony's strategic location between several interstellar powers. Deftly dodging attempts on their lives, Nathaniel and Sylvia discover evidence of a dangerously unbalanced economy and civil unrest in the colony, a tense situation that seems destined to touch off an interstellar war. The only way to forestall a tragic conflict is to undertake a dangerous mission against one of the best-defended military bases in known space. In this exciting SF adventure, Modesitt puts his characters through all the right paces, creating a rising tension that's sure to keep action-oriented readers nailed straight through to the explosive conclusion. (July)