Dead Giveaway

Dave Turnbull, a cultural xenologist returning to Earth after a year away, expects the comfort of home and instead finds himself drawn into a mystery that reaches from his mailbox to the stars. Scholar James Duckworth has vanished after pursuing a bold new theory about the Centaurus Mystery, the baffling alien city on a barren world in Alpha Centaurus whose remnants have reshaped human science and society. Duckworth's letters reveal urgency, secrecy, and a final trip to Mendez among half-intelligent natives, while an attempted robbery of Turnbull's mail suggests someone else was hunting for the same answers. As Turnbull investigates, he moves from romantic distractions with Dee to hard-edged suspicion, tracing Duckworth's trail through official denials and the influential Rawlings Scientific Corporation on Sirius VI. There he begins to suspect that the truth about Centaurus City, Duckworth's research, and a hidden corporate agenda are dangerously linked. Using bluff and intuition, Turnbull sets a trap of his own—only to discover that he has underestimated the forces arrayed against him. When an apparent routine message conceals an armed agent, the hunt for an alien secret turns suddenly lethal. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.