The Disappeared

In a universe where humans and aliens co-exist and have formed a loose government called the Earth Alliance, treaties guarantee that humans are subject to alien laws when on alien soil. But alien laws often make no sense, where murder is sanctioned, and where no one can find safe haven, and the punishments vary from loss of life to loss of a first-born child. One group of private detectives is willing to help the "Disappeared". Meet the Retrieval Artists, private detectives who help the lost return home. Meet Miles Flint. His occupation: Retrieval Artist. His job: Hunt down the Disappeared, outlaws on the run, wanted for crimes against alien cultures. The catch: Flint isn't working on the side of the law. Miles becomes embroiled in a bizarre case involving a stolen spaceyacht filled with dead bodies...a triple murder, the kidnapping of two human children, and a woman on the run.Flint must enforce the law, giving the children to aliens, solving the murders, and arresting the woman for trying to save her own life. But how is a man supposed to enforce laws that are unjust? How can he sacrifice innocents to a system he's not sure he believes in? How can Miles Flint do the right thing in a universe where the right thing is very, very wrong?