Paloma is the fifth book in the Retrieval Artist series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an American writer. She writes under various pseudonyms in multiple genres, including science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, and mainstream....

. The novels are situated at an unstated time in the future where humans have colonized many distant worlds. In addition, treaties with alien races allow for the extradition of humans to other worlds to stand trial. Since most of these extraspecies crimes carry a sentence of death, an industry has sprung up to hide these people. Those who vanish are called the Disappeared. Not everyone who disappears does so to hide from aliens' justice, some are hiding from human justice, others just want to escape from their past. Two professions have sprung up to find those people: Trackers and Retrieval Agents. Trackers, similar to bounty hunter

Bounty hunter

A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...

s, seek the disappeared and return them to justice, or to those willing to pay for them to be found again. Retrieval Agents also seek the disappeared, but instead of dragging them back to justice, are more often hired by lawyers seeking to have inheritances delivered (minus the sum it cost to find them). Frequently, retrieval agents are followed by trackers in order to find the individual being sought.

Plot summary

Miles Flint, a retrieval artist, returns to the Moon to find that the woman he purchased his retrieval agent business from has just been murdered. Bartholomey Nyquist is the lead investigator, as Noelle DeRicci has been promoted to director of security (and takes a small role in this novel). During the investigation, Flint discovers that Paloma was herself a disappeared and the plot revolves around why she was a disappeared, who she was before that happened, as well as who hired the assassins.