Death in the Devil's Acre

Death in the Devil's Acre: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel…

When a doctor is found brutally murdered in the lurid section of London aptly named “Devil’s Acre,” even its most hardened residents are stunned. But shock soon turns to horror when Inspector Thomas Pitt discovers three more bodies with the same gruesome “calling card”: a stab wound in the back and a rather inexpertly executed mutilation. As Pitt and his wife, Charlotte, race against time to find the killer, a treacherous mystery unfolds. And no one, not the lowest brand of ruffian or the most established aristocrat, will escape unscathed.

Violent crime was hardly rare in the slums of London in 1887. But sexual mutilations was--and Inspector Pitt was shocked to find four men so murdered. With his wife Charlotte, he pursued clues from the depths of the slums to the heights of high society.

Seize the Fire

Seize the Fire (Star Trek: Typhon Pact #2) by Michael A. Martin

Shortly after revealing its union with the Federation’s newest adversary—a coalition of galactic powers known as the Typhon Pact—the Gorn Hegemony suffers an ecological disaster that destroys the hatchery world of their critically important warrior caste. Fortunately, the Gorn had already been investigating traces of an ancient but powerful “quick terraforming” technology left behind by a long-vanished civilization. This technology, should it prove controllable, promises to restore their delicate biological and social status quo. But when a Gorn soldier prepares to use the technology to reshape the planet Hranrar into a new warrior-caste spawning ground, threatening to extinguish the native Hranrarii, he draws the unwanted attention of a mad Gorn trooper determined to bring the military caste into dominance.

Meanwhile, as the U.S.S. Titan embarks upon a search for this potent technology in the hope of using it to heal the wounds the Federation sustained during the recent Borg crisis, Captain Riker must balance his responsibility for his crew’s safety against the welfare of the Hranrarii and his duty to the Prime Directive. With a menacing Typhon Pact fleet nipping at his heels, Riker must not only stop the Gorn warriors but also plumb the secrets of an ancient terraforming artifact. But of everyone serving aboard Titan, Commander Tuvok may be the only one who understands how dangerous such planet-altering technology can be, even when used with the best of intentions. . . .

The second of the Typhon pact books - this worked well to develop the Gorn race as a differentiated species.  There's a bit of Barsoom here I think, with protected egg hatcheries and all, and some interesting reflections on first contact and the prime directive as well.

Bluegate Fields

Bluegate Fields: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel  by Anne Perry

Inspector Thomas Pitt is shocked. The body of a boy, clearly from the upper classes, has been found in the filthy sewers of Bluegate Fields, one of London’s most dangerous slums. What’s more, the unfortunate boy had been violated before he was murdered. So vile a case is hardly a topic for drawing-room conversation.

But when the Waybournes, the boy’s family, refuse to answer the police’s questions, Inspector Pitt begins to wonder what secrets they are trying to hide. Pitt’s wife and helpmeet, Charlotte, is determined to find out–even if it means tearing down the façades of an oh-so-proper family.

The Fall of Terok Nor

Millennium (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine): The Fall of Terok Nor by Judith Reeves-Stevens

Bajor is in flames. The corridors of Terok Nor echo with the sounds of battle. It is the end of the Cardassian Occupation and the beginning of the greatest epic adventure in the saga of Deep Space 9?

Six years later, with the Federation losing ground in its war against the Dominion, the galaxy's greatest smugglers, including the beautiful and enigmatic Vash, rendezvous on Deep Space 9. Their objective: a fabled lost Orb of the Prophets unlike any other, rumored to be the key to unlocking a second wormhole in Bajoran Space, a second Celestial Temple.

Almost immediately, mysterious events plague the station: Odo arrests Quark for murder; Jake and Nog lead Chief O'Brien to an eerie holosuite in a section of the station that's not on any schematic; and a Cardassian scientist whom even the Obsidian Order once feared makes an unexpected appearance. With all these events tied to a never-before-told story of the Cardassian withdrawal, Captain Benjamin Sisko faces the most dangerous challenge of his career: Unless he can uncover the secret of the lost Orb, what began with the fall of Terok Nor will end with the destruction of Deep Space 9...or worse.

More in my driving-through-Trek quest.  This was a two-cassette audio adaption of what seems a good Reeves-Stevens work - they do know their Trek.  Sadly, it looks like the rest of the trilogy was NOT done in audio.  That's a shame because I thought it was nicely done, both voice work and sound effects. Now I'll want to find the other two volumes, or maybe the omnibus version.  (I wish these older books would get discounted ebooks.)