Quirk & Moth

Quirk had one job to do, deliver papers to a Milan mafia boss, before leaving Earth for his home in the asteroids. But that was before being tailed, poisoned—oh, yes—and hijacked into raising foulmouthed fourteen-year-old convent girl Angelika Moratti, aka Moth, who'd rather see him asphyxiate in space.

Quirk and Moth have avoided killing each other long enough to solve another case. They decide on a local job next, and take up the search for a missing scientist. How could Quirk know this new mystery put them on a headlong collision course with his troubled past, a plethora of personal issues, and a hoard of genetic hybrid creatures with an appetite for anything that moves? When their client dies in mysterious circumstances, law enforcement pursues the dysfunctional duo all the way to a research lab in frozen Yellowknife.

Besides dealing with his teenage assistant, Moth (being enticed by her mafia family to join the business), Quirk's nemesis Beatrix Potter has reappeared. The nonbinary assassin reveals an unprecedented power grab by Joshua Simister. The Old Man, aka TOM, aka Quirk's ex-father-in-law plots to snatch control of all interstellar travel from the UN. The struggle for power puts the lives of Quirk's ex-wife (committed to an asylum), his son (an electronic being), and Moth's family under threat. Can the dysfunctional duo prevent this calamity?