Simon Grave and the Girl with the Crab Tattoo

Book excerpt: "More gleeful madness. Joyous!" -Michael Hartnett, author of The Blue Rat Murder has come to Crab Cove once more-this time a triple murder. Three young women, one a professional tennis star, are found dead within hours of each other. All have died by lethal injection, and each has the same crab tattoo. Grave and his team set out to investigate the murders, quickly learning that they will be assisted by a young woman from Mars, Kismet Salamander, who has come to Earth as part of an exchange program between Crab Cove and the Mars Colony. Salamander, a quirky and rebellious teen, the first girl born on Mars, has two goals: to solve the case and to check off as many items as possible on her "crater" list of things to see and do on Earth. She proves to be more than capable at both. As the case unfolds, Grave and Salamander discover that much more than murder is involved. To solve the case, they will have to deal with a new technology that threatens not just Crab Cove and the Earth, but the entire universe itself. The year is 2055. Get ready for murders most foul-and fun!