Twenty-five thousand gallons of extremely valuable single malt from Islay, still under bond. “That’s the usual procedure,” Merritt said. So it was just unloaded four miles inland, at Deptford Buoys.” But the dock authorities turned it away because all the berths were full. “To start with, the ship he chartered was supposed to deliver his cargo directly to our warehouse. MacRae in,” Merritt said, “you might tell me why he’s angry.” As the third son of an earl, his options had been limited, and as he’d remarked, a fellow couldn’t earn a living by sitting around looking picturesque. He’d accepted the offer without hesitation. That, among other reasons, was why she’d asked him to take over the management of her late husband’s shipping company, once she’d taught him the ropes. One of the things she enjoyed most about Luke, the youngest of her three brothers, was that he never shielded her from vulgarity or treated her like a delicate flower. I had a friend at Cambridge who knew at least a dozen different words for testicles.” “But Scotsmen have a special gift for cursing. “After all the time I’ve spent around longshoremen, nothing could shock me now.” “I’ve spent nearly three years managing a shipping firm,” she pointed out.  Merritt, on the other hand, was the only one out of the half-dozen siblings who’d ended up short and full-figured. Like the rest of the Marsden brood, Luke had inherited their mother’s long, elegant lines. Her brother was a handsome sight, with his windblown dark hair and his complexion infused with color from the brisk autumn air. Lady Merritt Sterling looked up from her desk with a faint smile. “If you’ve never been around a Scotsman in a temper, you’d better brace yourself for the language.” “M ACR AE IS AS ANGRY as a baited bear,” Luke Marsden warned as he entered the office.

Devil in disguise by lisa kleypas

This read to me like a continuation of 'the moon is a harsh mistress' that kept all the quirks i liked. I'm currently re-reading the story, which is a lot of fun since I already know who's going to survive into the later novels and who's going to die in the cold vacuum of space. He's getting a little too emotionally involved looking for 'poor little rich girl' Julie Mau. Miller is a cynical cop becoming a cynical private investigator.  Holden is a bit of an idealist, a man whose first instinct is to put everything he learns on wikileaks. (When I was young, we call these big asteroids, but you know how those pointy-headed astronomers like to change the taxonomy when they can't manage to learn anything actually interesting.) There are a number of dwarf planets, such as Ceres & Vesta, but have been tunneled out for human habitation as stone space stations. It has a comfortable, well-worn setting, the kind of universe Heinlein or Clarke or Anderson or Niven might have used, a solar system populated by a limited number of humans, dominated by an Earth government (represented by the UN), an independent Mars (so far smaller and economically and militarily dominated by Earth), and a bunch of independent-minded, cantankerous asteroid miners and their outer planet support teams, collectively the belters. It's a space opera in the classic style, but updated for more modern baseline technology, science and sensibilities. I've read all the material I listed above, liked all of it to varying degrees (the novella are a bit drier, more historical feel-in whose outcomes are predetermined by comments made in the novels.) (And I think the subsequent stories actually get even better as they go along.) The Vital Abyss - A story of the bad guys.Ī TV series based on The Expanse will debut on the US SyFy network in December as a miniseries. The Churn - Historical: the backstory of one of the major characters when he was still on Earth (I didn't name the character, because the novella camouflages which characters background is getting told for much of the story.)ĭrive - Historical: the story of how Solomon Epstein created the 'Epstein Drive', a high-efficiency fusion rocket engine mentioned in the first chapter of Leviathan Wakes. Gods of Risk - A story of Bobbie Draper back on Mars after Caliban's War (Bobbie is introduced in the 2nd book.) The Butcher of Anderson Station - Historical: the story of Fred Johnson (head of the OPA) at Anderson Station. The 'extra material', in the form of novella, include: The Expanse series, which begins with Leviathan Wakes (which is a stand-alone story in its own right), currently comprises five novels and several backstory Novella:Īlthough this is a running series (and the novel should be read in order), each novel offers a self-contained story. Corey is a pseudonym for Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck. Just a little extra information on v & the Expanse series:

The pirate king's daughter