All the Colors of Darkness

All The Colors of Darkness by Lloyd Biggle, Jr first comes off as some kind of 1950, 1960, sci-fi B-movie turned into a novel. Now, it was first published in 1963, so that should not be too weird. But for a science fiction book set in 1985 there is, in fact, very little science fiction. While mankind has bases on the Moon and has just invented a transmitter that allows them to transport people and things without any loss of time nothing else has changed. Computers don't exist, they still use telegrams heavily and everybody talks like it is the 1950s. Jan Darzek, Private Eye, eats lots of pie, drinks lots of coffee and likes to use his gun. Yet the aliens, who appear in the book, are interesting, with their own culture and technology. And one good fact is that much of the world in the book has NOT changed makes for a believable setting. In other words, while the author shows little change neither does he go nuts and making floating cities and a world government. There are no robots or clones. The USSR and the USA are still having a cold war, there are normal cars, normal sandwiches, normal ties. In other words, much of the setting of 1985 is 1985. And Jan Darzek seems to use his brain even more than his gun. Think of this book as more of a mystery novel with a slightly futuristic setting.

Someone is sabotaging the Universal Transmitting Company's new technology--instantaneous transport of objects and people around the world. When Detective Jan Darzek investigates, the mystery seems inexplicable--out of this world.Biggle has a distinctive light style. He has created a complete universe, as well as an Earth future that is set in the distant 1980s (he wrote in the 60s). Darzek is a classic SF hero--untouched by self-doubt. Definitely a classic