Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Buried Deep - The Disty control the human colony on Mars and the humans have a colony on the Moon as well. All the different alien and human species belong to the federation and each member must obey all the laws of all the species or suffer the consequences. On Mars, the dead body of a human is found when the Disty are excavating the ground; according to their laws they are contaminated and blame the humans for what they think is their deliberate deception.

Aisha Costard, forensic anthropologist, comes from Earth to Mars to examine the body before traveling to Armstrong Dome on the Moon to meet the retrieval artist Miles Flint in the hopes that he can identify the corpse so that the Disty can perform the decontamination rituals. On Mars, a mass grave is found underneath where the skeleton was found. The Ditsy go berserk, tearing the planet apart in order to find a place to live. Miles looks for a solution that will end the possibility of war between the humans and the Disty knowing if he fails, humanity will be slaughtered.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch has written another exciting Retrieval Artist novel that reveals to readers much of the cultural mindset of an alien species. The negotiations and diplomatic maneuvering of the two races to avoid an all out conflict is similar to the 1970s roundtable Viet Nam negotiations. Miles is an important character seeking the solution to the problem but there are other prime protagonists who have an even bigger role in dealing with the Disty. The audience will find this science-fiction mystery an excellent who-done-it due to the prominent role the aliens play.

Harriet Klausner