All these stories are quite good... only reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is that all of these shorts appear in other collections. ( )

Niven, Larry. Flatlander. Del Rey, 1995.
Flatlander brings together a group of Niven novellas featuring the somewhat psychic agent for ARM (Amalgamated Regional Militia), Gil the Arm. The stories are all classics of their kind and are must-reads for fans of science-fiction mystery mashups. For known-space newbies, a Flatlander is someone from Earth, which Gil is, though he managed to lose an arm in the asteroid belt. Many of the stories deal with the stealing of human organs for a burgeoning transplant industry and addiction to electronic implants that directly stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain. “Death by Ecstasy” is a good locked-room mystery with this theme. Of special interest in this edition is an essay in which Niven explains the difficulties of constructing stories that meet the often-conflicting demands of mystery plots and science fiction. Five stars for its narrow audience. ( )

Interesting mystery stories around a central character. Gill the ARM is an investigator who solves mostly murders.

Niven does a good job of showing us a creepy but logical world where human body part transplants are huge industry and social issue. His characters are likable or despicable as needed.

Definitely for adult reading. Good collection of stories. ( )

A collection of crime/SF cross-genre novellas featuring Gil 'The Arm' Hamilton.

Rather disappointing, but perhaps my expectations were too high. For many of them I found the solutions as baffling as the crimes. ( )

Many years ago I played cyberpunk, we had a motto that ran something like "parts is money, dead people is parts, dead friends are parts". This is a book about what happens when criminals become parts, and the definition of criminal reflects how much people want new parts. If you can't get the parts there are people "Organleggers" willing to provide. Gil "The Arm" Hamilton works for ARM the elite UN police force. He lost his arm years ago and found that he could manifest a psychic arm, even after getting back an arm. This is a series of interlocking stories that are all about him doing his job and how he manages to get himself out of fixes using his brains and his arm.

A fun read, light and interesting. Although some of it is a little dated, it does sometimes read like a 50's detective novel in space, it's still a good engaging read. ( )