The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles

Older sets another Gaslamp mystery on the rings surrounding Jupiter in her cozy follow-up to The Mimicking of Known Successes. After their last adventure, the relationship between reconciled exes Mossa and Pleiti is more stable, if not set in stone. Now detective Mossa reaches out to academic Pleiti to assist her with another investigation: 17 people—students, teachers, and kitchen workers alike—have gone missing from Valdegeld, the university where Pleiti works. The search for answers as to why such an eclectic bunch has disappeared—and where they’ve gotten to—sends the duo from the halls of the university to night clubs and one of Jupiter’s moons, chasing a conspiracy. The stakes feel somewhat lower this time around and Older largely sets aside the interrogation of the genre that made book one such a standout. Still, her prose remains imminently readable and propulsive and the world feels as richly textured as ever. Readers looking for a quick, comforting mystery will be enjoy curling up with this. (Feb.)