Chimera Catalyst by Susan Kuchinskas

SciFi meets noir in this novel set in near-future California after climate collapse. When Finder is hired to locate Miraluna Rose, it seems like an easy job. Crack into corporate databases, brew up some biologics to enhance his thinking, and get the job done with the help of the Parrot, a bird/dog chimera with the finest traits of both species. He finds that a renegade corporation called ReMe is illegally breeding human/animal chimeras and selling these exotic female creatures, branded as ArcoTypes, to the wealthy and ruthless. Miraluna Rose is its finest creation, but she has other ideas. She’s holed up at a refuge for ArcoTypes, planning a future of freedom for her sisters. And they need Finder’s help. The search takes him to the sunstruck streets of Laxangeles, the canals of Seattle, the weirdly mutated vegetation of the Area, and the ArcoTypes’ desert stronghold.

Category: Science Fiction – Genetic Engineering

In a California transformed by pandemics and climate collapse, a detective battles to save humanity—and himself—from a plot to let AI take over the world.
Tech titan Thom Elliott a mission: Create a new world order ruled by Sekai, the most powerful artificial intelligence ever created. His secret weapon is Glorp, a nutritional energy drink beloved by the tech community that includes genetically engineered microbes that will make people compliant.
There’s only one thing missing from this plan: everything that makes us human. Finder is an old-school detective in a world where, thanks to plague and climate collapse, most interactions are virtual and people hide from the heat behind thick walls. Finder is a misanthrope who prefers tinkering in his biolab, but when an investigation into one of Elliott’s cronies gets him contaminated with Glorp microbes, he has no choice but to fight back