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A Killer in Kirkclair
Once, the sands of Mars ran red with blood, its colonies and communities devastated by civil conflict, a small but vicious part of the galaxy-wide Epoch War.
The rise of the Primaterre Protectorate brought peace and stability. For its citizens, violent crime is a thing of the past, no more so than for cold case detective Grace Telluride - until bedridden John Ares is found dead with his head bashed in.
Together with exo-crime specialist Pel Bloom, Telluride must unravel the secrets behind the a brutal murder, and A KILLER IN KIRKCLAIR.
The rise of the Primaterre Protectorate brought peace and stability. For its citizens, violent crime is a thing of the past, no more so than for cold case detective Grace Telluride - until bedridden John Ares is found dead with his head bashed in.
Together with exo-crime specialist Pel Bloom, Telluride must unravel the secrets behind the a brutal murder, and A KILLER IN KIRKCLAIR.
556 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 18, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 2, 2024
A Killer in Kirkclair is a detective story, set in the far future (in Tholin's Primaterre universe). Two professional, level-headed police detectives, refreshingly free from quirks and contrived disabilities, solve an extremely rare case of murder in the Martian city of Kirkclair.
Detective Grace Telluride is a cold case investigator, looking into suspicious deaths and recently found corpses dating back to the times before the existence of the Protectorate, when Mars was like the wild west which finally culminated in a galaxy-wide "Epoch War". And her partner on this fresh case, Pel Bloom, specialises in off-world investigations, outside of Protectorate domain.
I'm a big fan of police procedurals and detective stories (who isn't?) from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series to Joseph Wambaugh. Child, Cornwell, Mankell, McDermid... the list goes on. I've read a lot of these types of books. And Tholin's entry into crime fiction is every bit as thrilling and compelling. From the off, the cops have three suspects and they're all up to something.
I'm already a fan of S.A Tholin's dense character-driven multi-layered stories within stories, and this is yet another experience of a different world. A dreadful, hopeful, beautiful, vicious paradise that is expertly delineated by Tholin. ALL of the people in it are three-dimensional with their own lives, troubles, fears, ambitions. ALL the environs are solid, believable, relatable & masterfully rendered. And the trappings of this universe, the tech and how it is intricately interwoven with the stories has to been witnessed to be believed. S.A Tholin's world-building is second to none.
This is a great murder mystery, with immense attention to detail and a plot that goes back several generations to a tragic & hateful past. No-one else is writing genre fiction like this. It is an absolute FEAST for readers looking to immerse themselves in another world. Every step of the way is fascinating science fiction, and we are accompanied by some very clever, engaging characters. People with pasts and futures. I cannot wait to meet them again!
Detective Grace Telluride is a cold case investigator, looking into suspicious deaths and recently found corpses dating back to the times before the existence of the Protectorate, when Mars was like the wild west which finally culminated in a galaxy-wide "Epoch War". And her partner on this fresh case, Pel Bloom, specialises in off-world investigations, outside of Protectorate domain.
I'm a big fan of police procedurals and detective stories (who isn't?) from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series to Joseph Wambaugh. Child, Cornwell, Mankell, McDermid... the list goes on. I've read a lot of these types of books. And Tholin's entry into crime fiction is every bit as thrilling and compelling. From the off, the cops have three suspects and they're all up to something.
I'm already a fan of S.A Tholin's dense character-driven multi-layered stories within stories, and this is yet another experience of a different world. A dreadful, hopeful, beautiful, vicious paradise that is expertly delineated by Tholin. ALL of the people in it are three-dimensional with their own lives, troubles, fears, ambitions. ALL the environs are solid, believable, relatable & masterfully rendered. And the trappings of this universe, the tech and how it is intricately interwoven with the stories has to been witnessed to be believed. S.A Tholin's world-building is second to none.
This is a great murder mystery, with immense attention to detail and a plot that goes back several generations to a tragic & hateful past. No-one else is writing genre fiction like this. It is an absolute FEAST for readers looking to immerse themselves in another world. Every step of the way is fascinating science fiction, and we are accompanied by some very clever, engaging characters. People with pasts and futures. I cannot wait to meet them again!
December 4, 2024
i've read several murder-mystery books, and i loved the sci-fi spin on it in this novel, while tholin still calls on a lot of the great tropes of the genre. getting to untagle the murder in the context of mars' history of bloody civil war and oppression was wonderful. i've always wanted to know more about the conflict between the unionists and the cappers that was briefly described in the main series, and i think tholin does a great job delving into it and its legacy with the impacts on this book's cast here.
it was also great getting the chance to see primaterre society from a new perspective. it's interesting being able to see the contradictions and hypocrises within purity doctrine that the characters are literally unable to perceive thanks to that "voice" grace describes, but at the same time how some of its teachings ultimately end up being valuable anyways, just as cassimer concluded in the main series.
spoiler territory now:
grace was a great protagonist, and i also loved the supporting cast in bloom and aucassin, so i was very happy to read that there's a planned sequel and this won't be the last we see of grace. murder on the moon sounds very interesting indeed.
anyways, i love what's been done with the standalone series so far; it reminds me of joe abercrombie's great leveller trilogy, and how the standalones there were also fantasy spins of different fictional genres/sub-genres. it seems like the third standalone kind of goes back to the series' roots in returning to a military branch of the primaterre; however, the moat is one branch we've yet to explore, and since the story is also set after the fourth book of the main series, i'm excited to see where tholin takes things!
it was also great getting the chance to see primaterre society from a new perspective. it's interesting being able to see the contradictions and hypocrises within purity doctrine that the characters are literally unable to perceive thanks to that "voice" grace describes, but at the same time how some of its teachings ultimately end up being valuable anyways, just as cassimer concluded in the main series.
spoiler territory now:
grace was a great protagonist, and i also loved the supporting cast in bloom and aucassin, so i was very happy to read that there's a planned sequel and this won't be the last we see of grace. murder on the moon sounds very interesting indeed.
anyways, i love what's been done with the standalone series so far; it reminds me of joe abercrombie's great leveller trilogy, and how the standalones there were also fantasy spins of different fictional genres/sub-genres. it seems like the third standalone kind of goes back to the series' roots in returning to a military branch of the primaterre; however, the moat is one branch we've yet to explore, and since the story is also set after the fourth book of the main series, i'm excited to see where tholin takes things!
February 9, 2024
Excellent book, though not a fast read. Plot develops slowly but methodically, carefully weaving in a backstory that explains the mystery.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews