A couple years ago, Mike Resnick had the bright idea to marry the detective story to the sci-fi world in the anthology DOWN THESE DARK SPACEWAYS. I enjoyed it so much, I had hoped he’d do it again.

For the most part, he has in ALIEN CRIMES, a follow-up offered as a Science Fiction Book Club exclusive.

The six contributing writers were given freer reign in that Resnick allowed no hard-boiled stories this time around, whereas SPACEWAYS was nothing but. This results in several different kinds of mysteries on tap, so there’s likely something here for every kind of armchair sleuth, antennae or not.

It begins with Pat Cadigan’s “Nothing Personal,” in which a middle-aged female police detective has to put aside her worries – “the Dread” – to focus on a case of child killings. Like much of ALIEN CRIMES’ contents, exactly how the sci-fi angle comes into play cannot be revealed without spoiling the entire story. I’ve never been a fan of Cadigan’s, having found previous works I’ve read muddled and tough to decipher – from JASON X: THE EXPERIMENT to THE ULTIMATE CYBERPUNK. But not here. Her writing seems much improved, partly because the plot seems so concrete.

Resnick himself serves up “A Locked-Room Planet,” exactly what it says it is, and revives his character from SPACEWAYS. Too much time has passed – not to mention too many books – for me to remember his protagonist’s earlier adventure, but this one is funny. I expected it would be the lone piece to have a sense of humor, but it’s immediately trumped by Harry Turtledove.

In that story, “Hoxbomb,” a woman gives birth to a wildly deformed baby, presumably because of sinister terrorist doings. It’s up to an alien creature named Miss Murple to find out who’s behind it, using her Agatha Christie-style detection. Turtledove has lots of fun with this scenario, and it translates well from his noggin to the page. Even though messed-up babies aren’t the stuff of comedy, the author succeeds in wringing black-comic wit from this most unfortunate circumstance.

And speaking of, in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s “The End of the World,” a hotel resort worker uncovers a long-buried mass grave by the pool. I can’t tell you what nor why, but Rusch’s shifting dual narratives – one in the past, one in the present – slowly tell all, with an explanation that’s fairly original, even if the genres are not. I don’t think I’ve ever read a story quite like it, so kudos to her.

Like so many good whodunits, Gregory Benford’s “Dark Heaven” begins with a dead body – a floater, even – bloated, partially eaten and covered in odd puncture marks, much to homicide detective McKenna’s dismay. This may be the most conventional tale in the collection … at least until Benford arrives at a solution.

Last up is “Womb of Every World” by Walter Jon Williams. At nearly 150 pages, it’s really a novella, and too long. But its tongue-in-cheek mix of swordplay, sex, trolls and monsters plays like a long-lost segment of HEAVY METAL. In it, a swordsman with a weapon that works miracles is hired to conquer bands of roving bandits, whose plundered victims mysteriously disappear without a trace. It works – it just works too hard for what it is. And what it is depends upon which half you’re reading at the time.

Although its mysteries aren’t exactly the stuff of great trickery, ALIEN CRIMES holds true to its mission and sees it through. I still prefer SPACEWAYS, but this sequel is not to be counted out. –Rod Lott

Buy it at SFBC.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• DOWN THESE DARK SPACEWAYS edited by Mike Resnick