Star Cops (novelisation)

***Star Cops*** was the third novelisation written by Chris Boucher, based on the television series of the same name. It was published by What Noise Productions on 23 May 2013, and contained novelisations of Chris Boucher's five scripts from the TV series, more closely resembling his original vision than the end product.

## Publisher's summary

The year is 2027. When a swimmer is found drowned in a London park, the police computer rules the death as accidental. Chief Superintendent Nathan Spring’s natural instincts lead him to suspect otherwise, and he begins an investigation - despite the objections of his colleagues and superiors. To deflect him from pursuing this, Spring is manipulated into accepting a job that he does not want - as commander of the International Space Police Force, an organisation set up to enforce law and order on various space stations orbiting the Earth. The ISPF, disparagingly nicknamed the ‘Star Cops’, is an undistinguished force populated by undisciplined officers, concerned mainly with their own welfare and making money on the side, rather than upholding the law.

Arriving at the European space station Charles de Gaulle, Spring struggles to adapt to conditions in low gravity while working to mould his team into an effective force for law enforcement. Before he’s even begun to adjust, he discovers that several crewmembers have recently died, following unforeseen spacesuit malfunction. Although these apparent accidents fall well within the limits of statistical acceptability, Spring’s instincts again lead to him to suspect the work of a saboteur. He decides to expose the culprit by taking a desperate course of action - gambling with his own life...

Elsewhere, Spring’s second-in-command David Theroux investigates an explosion on a distant space freighter that has knocked the craft off course and condemned its two pilots to death, the Star Cops are warned of terrorist attacks by a communications expert based on the Moon, a scientist disappears without trace from the American space station - with the crew denying his very existence - and rumours begin to grow of alien artefacts having been discovered on Mars...

## Story titles

1. *An Instinct for Murder* (4 chapters)
2. *Conversations with the Dead*
3. *Intelligent Listening for Beginners*
4. *Trivial Games and Paranoid Pursuits*
5. *Little Green Men and Other Martians*
6. *Conclusions*

## Deviations from televised story

* Brian Lincoln is described as having a beard. In the TV series, he did not.

## Writing and publishing notes

* It appears that this is a compilation of Boucher's previous releases, *An Instinct for Murder* and *Little Green Men and Other Stories*.
* This novelisation is based upon Boucher's original scripts and vision for the series, meaning that many additions made by other crew members are not present. Nathan Spring himself appears younger. Due to copyright issues, Anna Shoun is replaced by Irish inspector Dana Cogill.

*To be continued.*

## Publication history

First publication:

* Paperback: What Noise Productions

## External links

* **Star Cops** at the official What Noise Productions website
* **Star Cops** on Amazon UK