A friend recommended
The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn. I tried it and was enchanted, it's kind of a (good) Alistair Maclean novel set in space.
The summary of the novel (Taken from an amazon review):
"The Icarus Hunt"'s main character is Jordan McKell, a star-freighter pilot who plays the role of a poor yet honest private contractor, considering that in reality he is a smuggler working for a huge crime organization. Things couldn't get worse he supposed. Or so he thought...
When he takes a job flying a strangely put-together antique ship called the 'Icarus' with a ragtag crew, little does he know that he has just landed himself in the middle of a huge conspiracy. Jordan is immediately thrust into events spiraling out of control: one of the crew is murdered, his employer seems to have disappeared, an unknown saboteur is on board, and the 'Icarus' is being wanted by the oppressive Patth who have monopolized all trade in the galaxy.
It's up to Jordan and his mechanic partner Ixil, a Kalixiri with his two ferret 'outhunters' Pix and Pax, to figure out what's going on while struggling to stay alive. The hunt for the 'Icarus' is on!
So, first, I recommend this book to anyone who han't read it yet. And, second, anybody know of a similar novel?