All the Gold of Ophir
David M. Drury
Five Star, Nov 2005, $25.95, 404 pp.
ISBN 1594144214

The Asterbrooks travel to Jupiter Station to retrieve the body of their son Phillip who died in an industrial accident. The Conglomerated Mining and Manufacturing Company's representative informs them that the body was jettisoned into space because they had no instructions from the Asterbrooks. The Asterbooks discover proof that the company knew they were coming, and obtain their son's belongings, but discover Phillip's journals are missing, and believe a cover up of some kind is going on.

They hire independent private detective Mike Flynn to discover what the company is covering up, and how it pertains to their son's death. Flynn discovers that all the people connected to the case have been transferred to better positions in different parts of the galaxy. He persuades Wendy Chadwick, the head of the legal department, to let him enter a restricted area; she agrees on the condition she accompanies him. While there, company security forces try to kill them. Although they escape, the director of security Silvanus Drake is watching Flynn and putting roadblocks in his path, which convinces the sleuth that the company is hiding something. He intends to find out what it is or die trying.

ALL THE GOLD OF OPHIR is a fantastic and exciting thriller set in space in the not so distant future. The protagonist is a hard boiled detective who can't be bought or bribed, and always stays on the right side of the law. He has a theory about what the company is trying to hide, but he leaves himself open to other ideas as they present themselves, and conducts the investigation as if his idea might not pan out. David M. Drury's potboiler will appeal to readers who like exciting creative mysteries in outer space.

Harriet Klausner