Read @ Joe’s

Greg Hickey’s Murder in Retrograde is a sleek, sci-fi noir that mashes up the fedora and the firewall. This is Philip Marlowe meets Blade Runner minus the hovercars but with all the moral grime. Hickey takes the well-worn gumshoe template and drags it into a near future where Amazon drones are the norm, California wildfires are hotter than ever, and car chases are dampened by self-driving sedans that obey every traffic law. The result is a world both familiar and frighteningly plausible—equal parts The Expanse and Minority Report filtered through a Chandler-style lens flare.

Title: Murder in Retrograde (2025) Author: Greg Hickey Book jacket: A steadfast private detective. A case that would cover all his debts. When the first body drops, can he catch a killer before he’s cashed out? Joe says: Murder in Retrograde is a sleek, sci-fi noir that mashes up the fedora and the firewall; equal parts The Expanse and Minority Report filtered through a Chandler-style lens flare.

Private investigator Marcus Carver takes a job from one aerospace billionaire to dig dirt on another. Before long, the case spirals into a heady mix of gang violence, corporate espionage, and holographic sleight-of-hand that would make even Deckard double-check his Voight-Kampff results. Hickey’s worldbuilding is grounded yet coolly imaginative; his gadgets serve the mystery rather than overwhelm it, and the central hook—the “holo-heads” that mask identities with digital projections—is a clever twist on the classic disguise trope, and one that gets plenty of mileage on with a single EV charge. 

Hickey has a fluid style that heats up as things progress. The book’s early pacing drags a bit — Hickey lingers on procedural minutiae as Carver’s investigation takes him from room-to-room and from crevice to crevice, so does Hickey’s descriptions — but the story soon finds a rhythm. By mid-game, the narrative moves like a good barroom brawl: fast, funny, and with a couple of hits that land harder than expected. Even Carver’s egg’s benedict recipe (Asparagus? Really?) makes for an appetizing read.

Rest assured, punches get thrown, the police become involved, and more than one character dies, allowing for truth in the title.  

Hickey sticks the landing with a case that threads three plots into one seamless conspiracy—a feat that would even make Raymond Chandler nod from the corner of a smoke-filled jazz bar. Ultimately, this is less about tech flash than it is about people crushed under the weight of possessiveness, which gives Murder in Retrograde its noir soul beneath the circuitry.

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Greg Hickey reached out personally for this review; a cool move from a cool writer. In his note, he mentioned Nick Harkaway’s Titanium Noir, and that connection is spot-on. Both authors craft slick futures haunted by the past, places where morality rusts faster than machinery. With a little universe-bending, Hickey’s Marcus Carver and Harkaway’s Cal Sounder could be drinking buddies. Or share a therapy session. Thanks to Greg for the read, and for writing a mystery that proves the private eye still has life, even in the algorithmic age.