What do you think?
Rate this book
The Zael Inheritance
WITH A FORTUNE AT STAKE – WHO CAN YOU TRUST?
When Geir Lamarck is asked to track down a missing heiress, it’s not just another case. Because the heiress is Taslana Zael and she stands to inherit twenty billion marks.
When Laura Glyde tells Lamarck she really is Taslana Zael, he knows she’s lying — but can he prove it?
Finding the answers takes him back into a past he thought he’d left behind. Soon he realises things are not as straightforward as they appear. To learn the truth, will he have to trust Laura after all?
Part mystery, part love story, part satire, The Zael Inheritance is sure to appeal to readers who want their stories told with wit and verve.
When Geir Lamarck is asked to track down a missing heiress, it’s not just another case. Because the heiress is Taslana Zael and she stands to inherit twenty billion marks.
When Laura Glyde tells Lamarck she really is Taslana Zael, he knows she’s lying — but can he prove it?
Finding the answers takes him back into a past he thought he’d left behind. Soon he realises things are not as straightforward as they appear. To learn the truth, will he have to trust Laura after all?
Part mystery, part love story, part satire, The Zael Inheritance is sure to appeal to readers who want their stories told with wit and verve.
229 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2005
3 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 27, 2010
This novel is a throwback to the pulp era in tone and it also resembles a bit the J. Vance Gaean novels, but it's a fast and fun book.
In an interstellar human polity which seems to be gentler and more peaceful, though still with its problem of gangsters and corruption, police and justice are privatized and worlds vary widely in their mores - not dissimilar to the Gaean Reach if you want
The Zael family own a big share block in the eponymous firm that has monopoly over interstellar transport; never prolific, today the clan is in limbo two years after the death of its leader, since his wife is mentally disturbed and confined in an asylum, his playboy son has died in a flying accident and his daughter Taslana sneaked away some seven years before and converted her allowance into untraceable cash.
The CEO, former buddy of the Zael chief and quite an unsavory character is up for review by the board and he desperately needs the backing of the Zael shares, so he hires the interstellar police/detective agency to find Taslana, while proceedings for declaring her dead and redistributing the shares if she does not appear by some date are also started.
And of course soon a mysterious woman called Laura Glyde appears, looking exactly like the missing Taslana while the DNA match is not yet conclusive due to some genetic work on her. The main investigator involved in the case Lamarck decides that the best strategy to expose Laura Glyde as an impostor is to play in her hands and get close to her since she seemed intent on seducing him, while his partner kind of disagrees...
While there are some twists and turns, the general direction of the novel is clear and slowly we find out the motivations, while in the meantime there is action, romance and some world exploration
If you are a lover of J. Vance's novels, try this one and you won't regret it
In an interstellar human polity which seems to be gentler and more peaceful, though still with its problem of gangsters and corruption, police and justice are privatized and worlds vary widely in their mores - not dissimilar to the Gaean Reach if you want
The Zael family own a big share block in the eponymous firm that has monopoly over interstellar transport; never prolific, today the clan is in limbo two years after the death of its leader, since his wife is mentally disturbed and confined in an asylum, his playboy son has died in a flying accident and his daughter Taslana sneaked away some seven years before and converted her allowance into untraceable cash.
The CEO, former buddy of the Zael chief and quite an unsavory character is up for review by the board and he desperately needs the backing of the Zael shares, so he hires the interstellar police/detective agency to find Taslana, while proceedings for declaring her dead and redistributing the shares if she does not appear by some date are also started.
And of course soon a mysterious woman called Laura Glyde appears, looking exactly like the missing Taslana while the DNA match is not yet conclusive due to some genetic work on her. The main investigator involved in the case Lamarck decides that the best strategy to expose Laura Glyde as an impostor is to play in her hands and get close to her since she seemed intent on seducing him, while his partner kind of disagrees...
While there are some twists and turns, the general direction of the novel is clear and slowly we find out the motivations, while in the meantime there is action, romance and some world exploration
If you are a lover of J. Vance's novels, try this one and you won't regret it
July 23, 2020
It's a good story, but is let down by a degree of immaturity in the writing style. Excellent finale though.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews