There was a time when Sheckley was one of the funniest science fiction writers around. But he experimented (to put it mildly) with drugs and his writing went downhill. When I went to get some books autographed in the late 70s, I thought he was still out of it. This is the first "new" Sheckley (it was first published in 1993) that I have read in decades.
The book has a very light, very fast moving wit to it, kind of like some of the movies from the 1930s, but not so corny. In fact, it is also a nice little travelogue of places real and unreal in Paris and elsewhere. I like the way the detective agency works, but it requires someone with a really good social network, and a lot of trust. Plus an interest in making money, without being too greedy.
Hob Draconian is as mentioned by another reviewer, a "soft boiled detective". He doesn't carry weapons, wants no part of violence, but does possess tenacity. He is also a keen judge of character. So when he is taken at gunpoint by an ill at ease gunsel, he is not too worried.
Oh, and another thing. There is a lot of entanglement of persons and events. Everything is important to some degree, even if it seems a weird tangent. It all gets tied up neatly at the end. So Sheckley really came back from Pepperland, or wherever he was. I am looking forward to the other two books.
(btw, another reviewer had it wrong. This is the first book in the series, followed by Soma, and then Draconian New York.)
