The Alternative Detective
1993
First Published
3.89
Average Rating
223
Number of Pages
Part of Series
In The Alternative Detective Sheckley once again creates a mystery with a comic heart. Hob Draconian, the Alternative Detective, is, in the tradition of Roger L. Simon's The Big Fix, an aging ex-hippie turned private investigator. Still suffering from the culture shock of returning to an America he never made, with a predatory ex-wife on his back and no prospects for work, Hob is wallowing in depression when his nephew brings him a new case. Five surfboards have gone missing on the island of Ibiza. Not the usual sort of case - but The Alternative Detective Agency isn't the usual sort of investigative firm. Draconian's international "staff, " mostly friends from Hob's hippie days, are spread all over Europe - including Ibiza. Hob's not in Europe long before he's got another case, this one more personal. A woman brings the news that an old buddy of his has disappeared in Paris. Accompanied by the attractive - and attentive - woman, Draconian journeys to Paris to search for Alex. This is no simple missing persons job - people are threatening Hob, and pointing guns at him, and generally making it clear that he's in way over his head. Hob Draconian has stumbled onto a real case, with real criminals. Organized crime, international drug trafficking, and Hob's version of the alternative lifestyle are not a good mix, but he's in too deep to get out.
Avg Rating
3.89
Number of Ratings
758
5 STARS
25%
4 STARS
43%
3 STARS
28%
2 STARS
3%
1 STARS
1%
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Author
Robert Sheckley
Author · 78 books
One of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), was followed by The Status Civilization (1960), Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962), Mindswap (1966), and several others. Sheckley served as fiction editor for Omni magazine from January 1980 through September 1981, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.
