Bernice Summerfiled: Filthy Lucre

Money makes the world go round as can a few too many strong drinks.

But when Benny, in a fit of sobriety, agrees to do a pre-Advent favour for Irving Braxiatel, little does she suspect that a bit of corporate schmoozing with a fast food magnate is going to lead her into the biggest spin she's experienced for a very long time.In a whistle-stop tour of frontier planets she encounters mysterious burials, guns and swords, legs and claws, lost treasure, mortal combat, conspiracy, stomach-churning posh nosh and a little man called Perkin.

Oh, and love and war, again.Meanwhile Jack has to tackle possibly the most irritating computer virus ever created and Ruth must clamber through the bowels of a crashed ship with 'The Man with the Vulpine Tattoo.'And this was supposed to be the holiday season?