Friends in High Places by Andi Marquette

Publisher:             Bedazzles Ink Publishing

Andi Marquette detours from her better known mysteries to journey in the realm of science fiction with Friends in High Places, which is listed as the first volume in the Far Seek Chronicles.

Torri Rendego is the captain of the space ship Far Seek.  She's also a renegade trader and smuggler.  She skates right on the edge of the law trying not to draw the notice of the Coalition, the organization that runs her corner of the universe.  When she's sent to procure some rare black opals, she runs into Kai Tinsdale, a rising officer in the Coalition.  The women first met when they were both cadets at the Academy and, though they're on opposite sides of the law, they quickly become lovers and co-conspirators.  Kai realizes that someone is setting Torri up to be caught and sets out to help Torri and her crew.  Perhaps

Because this book is obviously a set up for a series there are some weaknesses.  The story just ends with no resolution, but lots of hints about what is to come.  The reader is definitely left feeling that more plot could have been included.  The story is sometimes difficult to follow because so many characters use aliases that have to be kept track of and there are words that have meaning in that universe, but the reader is left to figure them out.  A glossary of some sort would have been helpful.   

There is the basis for a good series in this book, but a great deal more development is needed.