Diplomatic Immunity

This is a gripping story and skilfully written as usual. It's a mystery story in which crimes have been committed, but it's not clear for some time who is the criminal or even what crimes have been committed. It also revisits the quaddies, genetically modified humans who were introduced much earlier in [b:Falling Free 61915 Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga, #4) Lois McMaster Bujold https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386922931l/61915.SY75.jpg 2277408], and have been only briefly mentioned since then.On reading it for the third time, I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Perhaps it deserves four stars? But it lacks the kinds of scenes that I particularly enjoy and want to revisit frequently. It's a serious story; Bujold has a good sense of humour, but it's not much on display here.The situation initially reminded me slightly of the Jack Vance short story “Coup de grace”, one of his Magnus Ridolph stories, which is another murder mystery set on a space station and involving people of various different cultures; but this story develops in a different way.It seems to me that this is an optional part of the Vorkosigan saga as a whole; if you read the rest of the series and skip this one, I don't think you've missed anything important. However, if you want more Miles and Ekaterin, here they are in action.