Crime author Alice Springer Marks hasn't strayed too far from her reputation as a crime writer in her latest book, Shadows on the Moon. This mash-up for youth through adults is of the fantasy genre but there is a crime subplot. Besides the fanciful life inside the Moon's core and the fictional crime story on Earth, the book includes an authentic science-based ecological message, disputed by some but championed by other scientists.
It all begins during the June full moon in 2017 when the true Queen of the Moon summons her Transporters of Goods and People. Throughout the centuries she has asked her transporters to bring women who suffered abuse. This time she designates a young woman from Duluth, Minnesota, who has not been abused. She wants Kristin Larson with her advanced degree in multiple sciences to be brought to the Moon to help her keep the Earth from endangering the Moon. When Jon Larson comes home and finds his wife gone, he involves the police.
The goal of the author is to provide readers with enjoyable reading while providing important environmental information affecting both the Earth and the moon if exploitation of the moon is not curtailed.