Renegades of the Empire: How Three Software Warriors Started a Revolution Behind the Walls of Fortress Microsoft

Sculptor-cum-sleuth Sam Jones is sipping away her artist's block with a frozen blue margarita at her favorite leather bar when she's approached by a man clad in sex-slave gear. The prisoner of lust is an old art school chum working as a set designer for an avant-garde production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Interested in using Sam's life-sized mobiles for the show, he enlists her as a consultant. No sooner does Sam come aboard than she gets entangled in the personal dramas of the entire cast, among them a dandy with impeccable comic timing and unstoppable wit; an up-and-coming female director; an ambitious upstart who reserves his sexual magnetism for the stage; and a former television star, who wants to redeem her acting career, and her boyfriend, the theater's artistic director, who fancies kinky sex with beautiful brunette actresses. A series of practical jokes that threaten to sabotage the production is topped only by the discovery of a corpse in the theater's basement and the subsequent death of the artistic director. Smelling homicide, Sam puts her vigilant mind to work--and if she doesn't solve the murders fast, she may become the next victim. With its swift tempo and good humor, this second installment in a bawdy English mystery series is a breath away from gripping. Unfortunately, Henderson loads her plot with contrivances and passe postmodern conventions instead of fine-tuning what could have been a novel of delicious intrigue. (Feb.)