The Solar Queen had made a deal to take over a postal run off one of the great interstellars in order to divert the eyes of the Patrol from what was a jinxed ship, if not a plague ship, However, this being the Queen, the course of trade is not smooth, starting with Dane nearly committing the ultimate sin of missing his ship after he'd gone to pick up a personal delivery. Making it back to the Queen just as she's about to lift, he and the rest of the crew are horrified to find a corpse bearing Dane's face. A nice straightforward story tells of a dangerous plot aimed at the structure of human space as the Queen's adventures once more attract the attentions of the Patrol. ( )

A postal delivery pick-up goes disasterously wrong and when the Solar Queen arrives at its destination the crew discovers that they made their pick-up after all, and now must deal with the awful consequences.

I like the way Norton imagines life on semi-developed agricultural planets, and that her aliens really don't all look like humans. ( )