I remember being baffled by this book during high school: cool premise, thin execution, yet--as you say--quite compelling.
I read the first two sequels, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (1978) and Giants' Star (1981), because we eventually acquired them in an omnibus with Inherit the Stars; they change the genre by adding aliens and then the third one adds time travel, at which point I bailed on the series. I don't think either of them has the compelling quality of the first, possibly because they're not mysteries, they're just adventures. I should try re-reading them all, just to see what I think now.
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I read the first two sequels, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (1978) and Giants' Star (1981), because we eventually acquired them in an omnibus with Inherit the Stars; they change the genre by adding aliens and then the third one adds time travel, at which point I bailed on the series. I don't think either of them has the compelling quality of the first, possibly because they're not mysteries, they're just adventures. I should try re-reading them all, just to see what I think now.