Zachary Nixon Johnson, the last private detective on Earth, is hired by the beautiful B.B. Starr, CEO of ExShell (and ex-exotic dancer), to find her missing robot double. The plutonium-powered android is far smarter and stronger than humans, doesn't want to be found, and is a homicidal maniac. As if that's not trouble enough, an unknown enemy keeps trying to assassinate Zach. And HARV, the intelligent computer implanted in Zach's brain, will not shut up.

Yes, The Plutonium Blonde is a parody of science fiction and hardboiled detective fiction. It is also an affectionate homage to the pulps. Perhaps unsurprisingly, its prose inclines to a pulp clunkiness. But the authors, John Zakour and Lawrence Ganem, are deeply knowledgeable of both genres, and they create some new twists in both the science fiction and the mystery. The plot is breathtakingly paced, and the jokes and wisecracks fly thick and fast (and, like the creators of the Airplane and Naked Gun movies, the authors have no fear of a bad joke). The Plutonium Blonde is recommended to fans of science fiction and of hard-boiled mystery. --Cynthia Ward