Set roughly 500 years in Earth's future, Mystery and Deceit takes place on Mars, now a terraformed and settled planet. James Hall, a reporter for the New Chicago Times, encounters Eric Pohlman while doing field research for a human interest article and manages to earn a set of interviews in Eric's home in Ashwaubenon, Olympus Mons Province, Mars. The Terran Government, spanning Earth, Luna and Mars, had done its best over the intervening 500 years...