The novel “Murder on Autarch 1” by Andrea De Magistris and Michele Perni was published for the first time in 2021. It’s the first book in the Velera-Exi: mysteries of the paradox planets series.

A murder in Autarch City is a decidedly out-of-the-ordinary event and for the Unified Government of the Velera-exi Belt planets that’s quite a problem. Taking advantage of the jurisdiction of the Investigation Detachment of which he’s an agent, Frank Harden obtains the assignment of the case from his boss Raymond Purdis.

By questioning the victim’s colleagues to try to figure out who might want to kill him and the possible motive, Frank Harden realizes that they are all acting following a sort of script given by someone. The representative of the company who handles public relations, also with law enforcement, doesn’t seem any more willing to reveal anything useful to him. What’s behind the murder? Is organized crime involved?