Retief in the Ruins

 

By Keith Laumer

Three stories about Retief, an assistant to Ben Magnan, who is a member of the diplomatic corps. Ben and Retief are sent to various embassies throughout the galaxy. They report to the ambassador, and of all the diplomatic staff people, only Retief seems to be competent at his job. Virtually on his own, Retief manages to save the day, protecting Terran interests and thwarting the Groaci, the trouble makers of the galaxy, who are always up to something nefarious.

All three stories are nearly the same. Location is changed, the Groaci evil plot is changed, the denizens of the individual worlds are changed and how Retief takes care of everything is changed. But other than that, everything else is the same. Retief discovers a Groaci or two behaving suspiciously. Retief investigates and engages with the locals and figures out what the Groaci are up to and then he does exactly what it takes to stop them. Ben Magnan usually get dragged into too, always against his will.

The stories are OK. Not as funny or inventive as many of his other Retief stories. It seemed to me like he wasn't really trying, just sticking to the formula. 

The stories:

• Retief in the Ruins
• There Is a Tide
• The Woomy

Imposter Syndrome

By Kathy Wang

Julia was just a kid in Russia when her mother abandoned her. Growing up in the orphanage was a hard life and it scarred Julia. 

When she got a little older, Julia was recruited by the SPB, Russian intelligence. Trained and educated, she was sent to California with the instructions to worm her way into the tech world of Silicone Valley. And she succeeds spectacularly, becoming the number two leader at Tangerine, a giant influential tech company. So now she is rich and famous, newly married and newly pregnant. But here comes Leo, her "uncle," actually her Russian handler and he wants more from her. She warns Leo that what he wants her to do could end in her exposure. But he insists. And so she does it and it results in the murder of a man by the SBP. 

Just as Julia predicted, someone noticed her searches and started looking into it. Alice is a lower level tech at Tangerine and pretty powerless but discovers a lot of things that could spell trouble for Tangerine and for Julia and Peter, the number one guy at Tangerine.

Julia knows if she crosses the SBP, it would result in not only her death, but in the death of her husband and even of her newborn baby. But Julia also knows she does not want to ruin her comfy California life of privilege and power and wealth. Going back to Russia is not in her plans. So when the FBI comes calling, what else can she do but cooperate?

It took awhile for me to get into this story. It's certainly a slow mover, as we have to read about all the intimate details of Julia's and later Alice's lives. Neither Julia or Alice are particularly appealing characters. Julia is arrogant and phony and Alice is just pathetic. I did warm to the story a bit more as I got further into it and eventually enjoyed it quite a bit. And I did enjoy the ending. 

Here is a review by Publishers Weekly.

 

Nobody, Somebody, Anybody

 

By Kelly McClorey

Amy had a strained relationship with her mother. But when her mother died, it affected Amy deeply. She was in college at the time and developed anxiety about taking tests. She also became unnaturally attached to her roommate and became unreasonably jealous when her roommate got a boyfriend. That did not end well, but I won't spoil it by revealing what happened.

Amy ends up working  at a yacht club as a maid for the summer. She doesn't like the other maid, Roula, who she feels is overly critical. She starts spying on her landlord, stealing his mail and reading it. The landlord, Gary, is dating a women he met overseas, Irina, a Ukrainian woman. He found her on a dating website. And he wants to marry her. He asks Amy for some advice and she becomes involved with him, but not romantically. That is until he breaks up with Irina and takes Amy as his date to his boss's wedding. He and Amy make out and Amy decides they will get married and raise a family, based on one make-out session. Of course, when she tells Gary this, he quickly sets her straight. 

After his misunderstanding with Amy, landlord Gary kicks her out. Meanwhile, her job at the club is coming to an end, as the season comes to an end. So now Amy has no job, no home and virtually no money. So she sneaks onto a cruise ship.

At first, the story is a bit of a puzzle. Amy hints at her past problems but it takes quite a distance into the story for it to reveal her background a bit better. Still, I found the story captured my interest and it turned out to be a pretty quick read. Amy is different and, as you get to know her a bit better, you wish she could get her life together, but that never happens in the story, sadly. Amy is very smart but she is unable to use her intelligence to better herself. 

A review by Kirkus.

The Black Moth

 

By Georgette Heyer

A Georgian Romance

Two brothers, John, the oldest and Richard, both gambling at the same club. Richard has lost a lot of money and decides to cheat. Also at the club is Tracy Belmanoir, an unpleasant fellow who spots an opportunity to cause trouble and exposes Richard's cheating. But brother John steps up to protect his little brother and claims he was the one who marked the playing cards when he was in the game just before Richard. 

According to the mores of the time, cheating at gambling is an unforgiveable crime. So John flees in disgrace while Richard is willing to let his brother bear the blame and the consequences of his actions.

Several years later and Richard and John's father has died and John is now the Earl and Richard is in charge of John's family estate. Richard is now married and has a young son. He has no idea where John is or what has happened to him over the years. Then he discovers that John is in England and is going by the name Sir Anthony Ferndale. Eaten up by guilt, Richard begs John to come home and take his rightful place as the Lord of the manor. But John refuses. Richard is eaten up by guilt but every time he talks to his wife about coming clean, she becomes very upset, claiming it will result in their disgrace and exile from polite society.  So Richard always caves.

Meanwhile, John happens upon an abduction. Tracy Belmanoir is trying to capture and carry off a young gentlewoman, Diana, who was traveling with her aunt. John takes on Tracy and they duel with swords and John beats Tracy. But then Tracy pulls out a gun and shots the valiant John.

Diana and her aunt bring John to their home and nurse him back to health. John and Diana fall in love, but John knows the taint of cheating and of his life on his own will not be acceptable to Diana's father and he makes plans to leave and forget Diana. But the vile Tracy once again grabs Diana and carries her off to his manor. So John has to ride to the rescue again.

Meanwhile, Richard has been slowly falling apart due to his guilt for letting his brother suffer for his mistake. He finally resolves to admit he was the cheater, not his brother, John, despite his wife's tears and protests. So at least John gets his happy ending. And Richard's wife realizes that she loves him even though he has gone against her wish to keep quiet about the cheating.

This was an OK read. There is a lot going on in the story and it is lacking in that light touch that makes so many of Heyer's other stories so delightful to read. I much prefer the lighter touch, the stories where a bit of comedy is included. Not much of that in this story.

I didn't know this until now, but apparently this was Heyer's first published novel, written when she was only nineteen. So much can be forgiven of an author who went on to produce many charming and successful romances, romances that brightened many a day for me as a reader.

Here is a review by Aarti on Austenprose.