Chimera (novel)


 * This article is about the novel - for the mythical beast, see Chimera.

Chimera is a novel by Will Shetterly, first published in 2001 by Tor. It is a "gumshoe" detective story set in a late 21st-century America, where anthropomorphic animals (referred to as "critters"), the products of genetic engineering, form a slave underclass. "Furries", humans who are sexually attracted to these creatures, appear in the novel as despised perverts.

Synopsis
The protagonist of the story is Chase Maxwell, a human private detective. He's hired by a half-human, half-jaguar "critter" named Zoe Domingo to investigate the murder of her adoptive mother. His investigations take him into the worlds of organized crime, political corruption, non-human rights, and re-legalised slavery that exist in America after the "Libertarian Revolution". Chase does (naturally) solve the case and get the girl at the end.