The Ritchie and Fitz Sci-Fi Murder Mysteries Series

For Murdina Ritchie, acceptance at the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy means one last chance at her dream of becoming a diplomat for the Union of Free Worlds. For Shackleton Fitz IV, it represents his last chance not to fail out of military service entirely. Strange that fate should throw them together now, among the last group of students admitted after the start of the semester. They had once shared the strongest of friendships. But that all ended a long time ago. But when an insufferable but politically important woman turns up murdered, the two agree to put their differences aside and work together to solve the case. Because the murderer might strike again. But more importantly, solving a murder would just have to impress the dour colonel who clearly thinks neither of them belong at his academy.

Murdina Ritchie put everything on the line to earn one chance to prove herself at the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy. Just one chance. Despite the bad reputation that comes with her family name, despite the bullies desperate to see her fail, she refuses to back down from any opportunity to show her worth. Everyone at the academy knows her skill, knows her inability to compromise in the pursuit of excellence, and knows her drive for success at all costs that borders on desperation. But all of that common knowledge works against her when a bullying upper class cadet dies in a freak training accident that looks a lot like murder. Because now everyone knows that Murdina Ritchie tops any possible list of suspects. Suddenly she finds a goal beyond proving her worth: proving her own innocence.

Murdina Ritchie and Shackleton Fitz IV start their junior year at the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy finally feeling like they belong in that world. They stand as equals among the other cadets. And the crushing load of schoolwork? Surprisingly manageable when you're not trying to solve a murder at the same time. But the rumors of big changes in the political universe reach even the depths of the Academy. Distrust and secretiveness invade the minds of all of the cadets. Something dark and tumultuous hangs over all of them, and not just the ever-present storms of Oymyakon. Then someone finds a body in the lower levels, and the accusations fly. A murder, but committed decades before. Long before the time of any of the cadets. But not before the time of the instructors. In fact, exactly at the time Colonel Hansen was Cadet Hansen. Can Ritchie and Fitz solve the coldest of cases and prove the colonel innocent? Or worse, guilty?

The cadets of the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy know more than most about challenging environments. They experience one every day just while crossing their campus. Their planet barely ranks as habitable on the best of days. But now the third and fourth year cadets face even harsher conditions, climbing to heights nearly at the edge of space and totally within the heart of Oymyakon's ever-present storms. Murdina Ritchie relishes the opportunity to test her mettle in ways she never could back home in the stable, comfortable environment of a space station. Shackleton Fitz IV delights in freedom from campus life and distance from the growing rumors of political turmoil in the Union of Free Worlds, if only for a few days. Then a fellow cadet falls to her death. No one in the camp thinks this an accident. But with no way down off the mountain until the storm passes, they all live with the knowledge that a murderer lurks among them, possibly planning to kill again. Ritchie and Fitz face death all the time. But if a human killer fails to end them, the planet itself just might finish the job. Staying alive calls on them to apply everything they've learned at the academy. But will it be enough?

Cadets Ritchie and Fitz finally face their last year at the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy. Which means decision time for what comes next. The golden wings and ivory robes of a diplomat? Or the crossed spears and navy blue uniform of a guardian? Before they decide, they and the other last-year cadets first spend a week on the university planet, visiting both of the colleges. A single day at the guardian school exhausts even the most highly trained of the cadets. But the first night visiting the diplomat school ends in a very undiplomatic murder. One of the guests at a mock state dinner dies in the middle of the dessert course, a victim of a very gruesome poison. And the only suspect? Cadet Shackleton Fitz IV. So Murdina Ritchie finds herself alone on a strange planet with its own set of rules, desperate to prove her partner's innocence. Hard enough under any circumstances, made harder still by the presence of two former Oymyakon cadets: Finn and Feena Berweger. Can Ritchie defeat her old nemeses one more time? Maybe. Can she do it with her best friend and close partner in crime-solving trapped in police custody? She has to. An Undiplomatic Murder, book five in the Ritchie and Fitz Sci-Fi Murder Mysteries.

Murdina Ritchie left her childhood home of Buennagel when a volatile, very alien species abducted her father during a failed diplomatic meeting. Six years later, she finds herself flying back. Her best friend Shackleton Fitz IV needs her help. His father's increasingly bizarre behavior demands an explanation. And Ritchie and Fitz specialize in finding explanations. But when another guest at the house dies when brutally attacked their first night home, Ritchie and Fitz find themselves caught up in two cases. Someone in the house is the killer, and anyone in the house could be next. A Lethal Betrayal, Book 6 and the concluding chapter in the Ritchie and Fitz Sci-Fi Murder Mysteries.