The Lindsey Davis Ode to a Banker was an entertaining easy read, with a suitable corpse, a plethora of suspects, some entertaining swipes at writers and publishers and a satisfying denouement, and quickly got polished off.
Frederic Pohl's Gateway took a bit longer to read, but was well worth it, as Parson indicated. Interspersing the chapters with reports, rules, letters and classified ads from Gateway -- an asteroid that is home to hundreds of alien spaceships and far more desperate people -- worked very well, as did the structure whereby chapters with the main character in conversation with his computer-psychiatrist alternate with events on Gateway some years before, which led to a mystery-solving ending, and the issues of fear, love, sacrifice and survivor's guilt were handled with insight and intelligence.
I've now gone back to fantasy with Drakenfeld by Mark Charan Newton. I wasn't at all impressed by an earlier novel of his I tried to read a few years back, but this and its sequel were going cheap in a remainder bookshop so I thought I'd give him another chance. This book isn't as bad as that earlier one (he appears now to have realised it's best to check what words mean before using them) but characterisation is thin, so-called educated people have no concept of correct grammar and the amount of padding and irrelevant going-nowhere and/or repetitive dialogue is irritating in the extreme. I'll probably stick with it, if only to find out whodunnit, since it's meant to be a murder mystery, but I shan't be rushing to read the second book.