The Seventh Reality (The Dan Provocations, #7)

Rescued from a dying planet, Barry Saint-Albans, the second-greatest detective in all the universes, is given a simple task: track down the missing son of the captain of a belligerent star ship that is threatening the Inn of the Sixth Dan on the very edge of uncharted space.
Unfortunately, said son has joined a procession of pilgrims heading off into the unknown in search of peace, answers to why we are all here, and where we came from before everything went pear-shaped.
None have ever returned to tell.
Barry is tasked with finding out what has happened to the missing travellers, with a restricted time frame and instructions to bring back the missing son alive, dead or in gaseous form, before the inn is destroyed.
The trail takes him into a preposterously populated unknown, through a frontier settlement, a tax haven for despots and oligarchs, an exile planet for road planners and a Stone Age society run by an old enemy (or at least one of his cousins).
The ultimate answers are revealed, but will they be enough to prevent Barry meeting the same fate as the pilgrims, and the Inn ceasing to be, and how does this all fit in with the killing of the ruling family in a devastated star system back home?

Robert Wingfield used to sleep in the technology department of a large organisation between 9 and 5 each day, (except on Fridays when they woke him at 4 and sent him home early), but he finally got tired with this taxing routine and left his job for good. A prolific writer, to date he has over twenty works, electronically and in paperback, available through various outlets—all can be tracked through www.robertwingfieldauthor.co.uk.
His work covers several genres:
Satirical sci-fi novels, 'The Dan Provocations', hopefully having you laughing out loud (or cringing, when you realize how closely satire matches reality).
Gothic chillers in the form of the 'Ankerita' series (The Seventh House) featuring a Tudor anchoress reborn in modern times.
Travelogues in the 'One Man in a Bus' series, currently cover Sicily, North Cyprus and Syros in the Cyclades.
Other short stories with a supernatural flavor ('The Black Dog of Peel' is free for you on this site).
For the younger reader, 'The Mystery of the Lake' and 'the Mystery of the Midnight Sun' have a Swallows and Amazons feel, and are suitable for even your grey-haired old great-aunt.
'The Adventures of Stefan' kick off with 'Stefan and the Sand Witch', a modern day fairy-tale, and 'Stefan and the Spirit of the Woods', an eco-fairytale.
For those who have elderly relatives telling them about embarrassing ailments, you need 'Everyone's Guide to not being an Old Person', a gentle satire on what people do when they get old, and how to avoid it.
For those struggling authors, he runs The Inca Project, a set of free resources to help you get your works into print. He also provides formatting and editing services through the project, to ensure you get the best result from your masterpiece. See www.incaproject.co.uk
He has written many reviews on management books and was a member of the Chartered Management Institute and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers when he was working and could afford the subscriptions.
His other interests include digital forensics, nature and building conservation, photography, and resisting emotional blackmail from his Labrador.
Favorite quotes:
Don't give up your day job... whoops too late.
(Robert Wingfield)