The Hyperborean

Ace Crisis Manager Mr. Denbok has been retained by the late Hollis Cameron to construct a story that will protect his family from criminal exposure related to an event at a family business retreat. As Mr. Denbok interviews each family member, he starts to piece together a story that beggars belief. On the night in question, Hollis Cameron appoints his unpopular son-in-law, Ian, to head up the launch of Cameron Whiskey's legacy product: a single malt aged in oak casks recovered from the hold of a ship thought lost in the frozen Arctic for 170 years. Cameron's dubious claim to the lucrative discovery aside, legal expert Mr. Denbok has to account for three suspicious deaths in the hours after this controversial family meeting. Mr. Denbok's job now is to bring this highly unlikely tale of a drunk laser-shooting, ice-mummy alien's murderous rampage to a satisfying, believable and happy conclusion. Sometimes telling the truth is a very, very bad idea.

• science fiction