Helen, thanks for the reminder of C.J. Cherryh. I like the Gate of Ivren series, too (a/k/a The Morgaine Saga), but my favorites are the Chanur series. What I like about her writing is that she lets you figure things out for yourself instead of feeding all the answers to you.

Anything by James Crumley (more hardboiled than Mike Hammer, but lots better written).

And anything by Dick Francis or James Lee Burke, two of the few authors I buy in hardback.

Rick, hope the treatment is going well.

Lin