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Dorothy Gentleman #1
Murder by Memory
Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in this sci-fi ode to the cozy mystery, helmed by a formidable no-nonsense auntie of a detective.
A mind is a terrible thing to erase...
Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty's most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.
Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn't hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship's detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.
Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she's letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they've had three hundred years to perfect their schemes...
A mind is a terrible thing to erase...
Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty's most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.
Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn't hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship's detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.
Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she's letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they've had three hundred years to perfect their schemes...
3 pages, Audible Audio
First published March 18, 2025
About the author
Olivia Waite
19 books1,381 followersOlivia Waite writes queer historical romance, science fiction, and fantasy. She is the romance fiction columnist for the New York Times Book Review.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,967 reviews
June 23, 2025
spectacular give me 14 of them right now
April 20, 2025
ARC provided by TOR - thank you so much
i feel like right now i am just craving queer scifi stories - and most of the time, they end up being new favorites! so when i heard sapphic scifi murder mystery i knew i had to get my hands on it. and friends, i loved this a lot.
this is the start of what i hope and pray will be a new series that follows a spaceship and the adventures taking place on it. and the fairweather is an extra cool ship because it has a library that holds a copy of every passenger’s mind. so whether you are living with your physical body on board, or digitally getting rest on your shelf while you are waiting for a new body, the book of your mind is being stored, and you are able to update it.
and this story starts out with dorothy gentleman waking up during a magnetic storm, sooner than expected, in a body that is not hers. she is also one of the ships detectives, and it has been two years since she went into rest mode! but now she has four items on this new body, and the ship quickly quickly informs her that there is a dead body in a passenger cabin, so it’s time for her to start investigating what is happening!
i really did adore this. it’s beautiful queer, extremely heartfelt, with conversations about autonomy and community, and so so very immersive. i truly felt like i was right beside dorothy, navigating this ship, exploring all of these neighborhoods and different places on board, and meeting so many passengers. i would happily read 100 more novellas following dorothy and more adventures on the fairweather.
trigger + content warnings: talk of death in past (sibling / parent), talk of dementia, talk of dementia caregiving in past, death, murder, attempted suicide kind of / kind of accidental, minor talk of abuse in a relationship
blog | instagram | youtube | wishlist | spotify | amazon
♡ The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics ★★★★
♡ 2026 Hugo Awards 🚀 Novella Reviews:
➛ Cinder House by Freya Marske
➛ What Stalks the Deep (Sworn Soldier, #3) by T. Kingfisher
➛ Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
➛ Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman, #1) by Olivia Waite
➛ The Summer War by Naomi Novik
➛ The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
i feel like right now i am just craving queer scifi stories - and most of the time, they end up being new favorites! so when i heard sapphic scifi murder mystery i knew i had to get my hands on it. and friends, i loved this a lot.
this is the start of what i hope and pray will be a new series that follows a spaceship and the adventures taking place on it. and the fairweather is an extra cool ship because it has a library that holds a copy of every passenger’s mind. so whether you are living with your physical body on board, or digitally getting rest on your shelf while you are waiting for a new body, the book of your mind is being stored, and you are able to update it.
and this story starts out with dorothy gentleman waking up during a magnetic storm, sooner than expected, in a body that is not hers. she is also one of the ships detectives, and it has been two years since she went into rest mode! but now she has four items on this new body, and the ship quickly quickly informs her that there is a dead body in a passenger cabin, so it’s time for her to start investigating what is happening!
i really did adore this. it’s beautiful queer, extremely heartfelt, with conversations about autonomy and community, and so so very immersive. i truly felt like i was right beside dorothy, navigating this ship, exploring all of these neighborhoods and different places on board, and meeting so many passengers. i would happily read 100 more novellas following dorothy and more adventures on the fairweather.
trigger + content warnings: talk of death in past (sibling / parent), talk of dementia, talk of dementia caregiving in past, death, murder, attempted suicide kind of / kind of accidental, minor talk of abuse in a relationship
blog | instagram | youtube | wishlist | spotify | amazon
♡ The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics ★★★★
♡ 2026 Hugo Awards 🚀 Novella Reviews:
➛ Cinder House by Freya Marske
➛ What Stalks the Deep (Sworn Soldier, #3) by T. Kingfisher
➛ Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
➛ Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman, #1) by Olivia Waite
➛ The Summer War by Naomi Novik
➛ The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
December 1, 2024
I IMMEDIATELY need this to be a successful series!! Cozy sci-fi murder mystery with a sapphic aunt investigator who likes to knit? Yes please! Murder by Memory was a delight and I want more.
On a thousands-year space flight to a new planet, the residents of the HMS Fairweather are able to upload their memories to a digital library, and then awaken in newly grown bodies when they die. Permanent death is only supposed to occur when they reach their destination. But when Dorothy Gentleman awakens in a body that is decidedly not hers, she must investigate. Because it seems that by erasing memory banks, a true murder has occurred...
I cannot tell you how happy I am that cozy sci-fi mysteries seem to be a thing we're getting more of. This novella was wonderful, and if you're looking for more I suggest the Mossi and Pleiti series by Malka Older, or The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (which I desperately want turned into a series as well!!) If you are also a fan of this niche subgenre, definitely pick this one up when it releases in March. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
On a thousands-year space flight to a new planet, the residents of the HMS Fairweather are able to upload their memories to a digital library, and then awaken in newly grown bodies when they die. Permanent death is only supposed to occur when they reach their destination. But when Dorothy Gentleman awakens in a body that is decidedly not hers, she must investigate. Because it seems that by erasing memory banks, a true murder has occurred...
I cannot tell you how happy I am that cozy sci-fi mysteries seem to be a thing we're getting more of. This novella was wonderful, and if you're looking for more I suggest the Mossi and Pleiti series by Malka Older, or The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (which I desperately want turned into a series as well!!) If you are also a fan of this niche subgenre, definitely pick this one up when it releases in March. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
February 24, 2025
4.5 stars - Love the premise, love the characters, and very excited that this is going to be a series! This is just my kind of cozy. You know, in spaaacceee with memory bending sapphic lady detectives who knit
March 14, 2025
I'm in love with this sci-fi cozy-adjacent murder mystery sub-genre - and to get even more micro about the subgenre, I love sci-fi cozy-adjacent murder mysteries on space ships/space hotels/space cruises/space living. It hits all the right buttons for me, and Murder by Memory is an excellent example of what I love about it.
In this novella, we're introduced to Dorothy Gentleman, who wakes up in a body that is not her own. On this space habitat, humans can save their minds in a great library, and can be put in a new body. But usually they make that choice, and stumbling into the middle of a murder mystery is not normal. Mostly. Dorothy is a detective, after all.
I'd like to leave the summary at that, because this is so short. What I will say is that there's a great amount of world exploration done in such a short amount of time, and Olivia Waite does it well. Dorothy explores the mystery at hand, and we get to learn so much about this space habitat and how it works and the people who live in it, and there is a YARN SHOP and I loved that almost as much as Dorothy did. It's charming and warm despite the murder. People comping this to Miss Marple or similar are not wrong.
I enjoyed the entire experience of reading this, and I can't wait for more. Couple this with Malka Older's The Mimicking of Known Successes series, The Spare Man, or Floating Hotel, and you'll see what I mean by this sub-genre. I really love it.
In this novella, we're introduced to Dorothy Gentleman, who wakes up in a body that is not her own. On this space habitat, humans can save their minds in a great library, and can be put in a new body. But usually they make that choice, and stumbling into the middle of a murder mystery is not normal. Mostly. Dorothy is a detective, after all.
I'd like to leave the summary at that, because this is so short. What I will say is that there's a great amount of world exploration done in such a short amount of time, and Olivia Waite does it well. Dorothy explores the mystery at hand, and we get to learn so much about this space habitat and how it works and the people who live in it, and there is a YARN SHOP and I loved that almost as much as Dorothy did. It's charming and warm despite the murder. People comping this to Miss Marple or similar are not wrong.
I enjoyed the entire experience of reading this, and I can't wait for more. Couple this with Malka Older's The Mimicking of Known Successes series, The Spare Man, or Floating Hotel, and you'll see what I mean by this sub-genre. I really love it.
March 6, 2025
HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!
The interstellar passenger liner the HMS Fairweather has been traveling for over 300 years. One night, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in someone else’s body just as another passenger is murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, she learns that not only is someone killing bodies, but also deleting minds from the Library. If one desires rest between lifetimes, their mind is carefully reserved in glass on the Library shelf. Unfortunately, the ship’s mind “Ferry” is unable to provide her with any information since it is drunk from a magnetic storm. Dorothy must use the body she woke up in to solve the murder.
The premise of this cozy sci-fi novella is super clever. While I would have enjoyed more time getting to know the characters, the mystery is solved quickly by a sapphic aunt who loves to knit. Need I say more? It appears this novella will become a series and I am definitely here for it. I enjoyed this quirky murder mystery!
3.5/5 stars rounded up
Expected publication date: 3/18/25
Thank you to Tordotcom publishing and Edelweiss for the ARC of Murder by Memory in exchange for an honest review.
The interstellar passenger liner the HMS Fairweather has been traveling for over 300 years. One night, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in someone else’s body just as another passenger is murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, she learns that not only is someone killing bodies, but also deleting minds from the Library. If one desires rest between lifetimes, their mind is carefully reserved in glass on the Library shelf. Unfortunately, the ship’s mind “Ferry” is unable to provide her with any information since it is drunk from a magnetic storm. Dorothy must use the body she woke up in to solve the murder.
The premise of this cozy sci-fi novella is super clever. While I would have enjoyed more time getting to know the characters, the mystery is solved quickly by a sapphic aunt who loves to knit. Need I say more? It appears this novella will become a series and I am definitely here for it. I enjoyed this quirky murder mystery!
3.5/5 stars rounded up
Expected publication date: 3/18/25
Thank you to Tordotcom publishing and Edelweiss for the ARC of Murder by Memory in exchange for an honest review.
June 2, 2025
Near the topmost deck, in a small lift with glass walls and flickering buttons, I, Dorothy Gentleman, ship’s detective, opened a pair of eyes and licked a pair of lips and awoke in a body that wasn’t mine.
Murder by Memory follows Dorothy, a volunteer ship's detective on a millennium long voyage to another planet, as she tries to solve a murder that wasn't permanent and digs up a white collar crime that might be legal given the ship's rules, all while adjusting to the leap of her mind and memories from an older body with aches to a younger and healthier body in her twenties.
The novella is a cozy, low-stakes sci-fi mystery, with some interesting world-building where a person's minds/ memories can be stored and restored in their own or other bodies. This inadvertently made the mystery low-stakes, as the people develop a cavalier attitude towards deaths, unless, as it happens in the plot, the memory book is destroyed at the same time as the corresponding memories in a person disappear or die. The plot moves quickly, but the white collar crime held little interest for me, the murder only a bit more so.
The world-building and plot aside, the character sketches have potential - the description of a Miss Marple like older woman with a penchant for solving mysteries intrigued me. The potential wasn't completely satisfied here however - age and love for knitting aside, Dorothy didn't display much understanding of human nature and emotional intelligence, which are the real functional descriptors of Miss Marple's character. And the real issue is that Dorothy's character sketch doesn't reveal more than her interest in knitting and maybe nosiness for crime solving, and no growth. The ship's non-existent police force with ship's detectives who merely volunteer for the posts weren't easy to get past either.
Then the habits of my career—and my own considerable nosiness, let’s be frank—came to the fore.
On the whole, a low-stakes cozy sci-fi quick read, recommended for maybe light sci-fi generation ship fans but not Miss Marple fans.
🌟🌟
[1/4 star for the premise and the whole book; Zero stars for the world-building; 1/4 star for the characters and their growth; 1/4 star for the plot and themes; 1/4 star for the writing - 2 stars in total.]
Murder by Memory follows Dorothy, a volunteer ship's detective on a millennium long voyage to another planet, as she tries to solve a murder that wasn't permanent and digs up a white collar crime that might be legal given the ship's rules, all while adjusting to the leap of her mind and memories from an older body with aches to a younger and healthier body in her twenties.
The novella is a cozy, low-stakes sci-fi mystery, with some interesting world-building where a person's minds/ memories can be stored and restored in their own or other bodies. This inadvertently made the mystery low-stakes, as the people develop a cavalier attitude towards deaths, unless, as it happens in the plot, the memory book is destroyed at the same time as the corresponding memories in a person disappear or die. The plot moves quickly, but the white collar crime held little interest for me, the murder only a bit more so.
The world-building and plot aside, the character sketches have potential - the description of a Miss Marple like older woman with a penchant for solving mysteries intrigued me. The potential wasn't completely satisfied here however - age and love for knitting aside, Dorothy didn't display much understanding of human nature and emotional intelligence, which are the real functional descriptors of Miss Marple's character. And the real issue is that Dorothy's character sketch doesn't reveal more than her interest in knitting and maybe nosiness for crime solving, and no growth. The ship's non-existent police force with ship's detectives who merely volunteer for the posts weren't easy to get past either.
Then the habits of my career—and my own considerable nosiness, let’s be frank—came to the fore.
On the whole, a low-stakes cozy sci-fi quick read, recommended for maybe light sci-fi generation ship fans but not Miss Marple fans.
🌟🌟
[1/4 star for the premise and the whole book; Zero stars for the world-building; 1/4 star for the characters and their growth; 1/4 star for the plot and themes; 1/4 star for the writing - 2 stars in total.]
May 12, 2025
Many cool ideas in here, but I don't think that they came together to create an intriguing story all too well. The murder mystery never once had me hooked, sadly. (And I'm sorry, but it's insane that the retail price for these Tor novellas starts at 22 USD. This is a 100 page story …)
April 3, 2025
3.5 Stars
This was a cozy space ship murder mystery with an interesting (and quite complex) set up that allows the thousands of travelers aboard the Fairweather to basically live indefinitely as they search for a new place to settle. However, when an event messes with the “immortality” back up, it’s time for detective Dorothy Gentleman to come out of a self imposed hibernation to solve the crime.
Overall, I was pleasantly pleased with this short story as it delivers on a contained society with some interesting rules and regulations, good character development, and a solid whodunnit. Toss in a bit of sapphic leanings, and this quick scifi laden mystery might just be your next palate cleaner!
This was a cozy space ship murder mystery with an interesting (and quite complex) set up that allows the thousands of travelers aboard the Fairweather to basically live indefinitely as they search for a new place to settle. However, when an event messes with the “immortality” back up, it’s time for detective Dorothy Gentleman to come out of a self imposed hibernation to solve the crime.
Overall, I was pleasantly pleased with this short story as it delivers on a contained society with some interesting rules and regulations, good character development, and a solid whodunnit. Toss in a bit of sapphic leanings, and this quick scifi laden mystery might just be your next palate cleaner!
April 5, 2025
Actual rating: 2.4123121141 stars.
So I guess the blurb refers to this book as Miss Marple meets A Memory Called Empire because a) the MC is a 50+ female detective who enjoys knitting and b) the word "memory" is in both titles. And the similarities stop right there, thank you very much.
Indeed she is. The characters are meh, the story is meh, and the mystery is meh. I couldn't bring myself to care about anything or anyone. The world has potential but the author spends more time explaining it than showing it, so 💤💤💤.
Also, Dorothy Gentleman (don't get me started on her name) is one of those 50+ female protagonists who has the aches and pains of a 90+ woman. I mean, really? 🙄🙄 Younger authors really need to do their research before creating "older" female characters. Being30+ 50+ doesn't necessarily mean being ancient and decrepit, you know.
See what I mean?
➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): Want to read a super entertaining Mystery Type Thingie (MTT™) packed with older-yet-scrumptious-and-kick-ass female characters? Forget this book and read Killers of a Certain Age. You're welcome.
So I guess the blurb refers to this book as Miss Marple meets A Memory Called Empire because a) the MC is a 50+ female detective who enjoys knitting and b) the word "memory" is in both titles. And the similarities stop right there, thank you very much.
Indeed she is. The characters are meh, the story is meh, and the mystery is meh. I couldn't bring myself to care about anything or anyone. The world has potential but the author spends more time explaining it than showing it, so 💤💤💤.
Also, Dorothy Gentleman (don't get me started on her name) is one of those 50+ female protagonists who has the aches and pains of a 90+ woman. I mean, really? 🙄🙄 Younger authors really need to do their research before creating "older" female characters. Being
See what I mean?
➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): Want to read a super entertaining Mystery Type Thingie (MTT™) packed with older-yet-scrumptious-and-kick-ass female characters? Forget this book and read Killers of a Certain Age. You're welcome.
Read
March 6, 2025Personally, I'm fully on board the cozy SFF train, especially when it comes to cozy queer SFF. This sci-fi mystery novella promises to be Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple. On the HMS Fairweather, minds are stored in the Library until they are provided with a new body. When Dorothy Gentleman awakens in a new body, she learns she's been woken to solve a murder mystery. Worse, the culprit is also deleting minds from the Library. To make things more complicated, one of Dorothy's top suspects is also her ex-girlfriend—or, at least, the ex-girlfriend of the body she's borrowing.
—Danika Ellis, 11 Must-Read New Queer Books Out in March 2025
—Danika Ellis, 11 Must-Read New Queer Books Out in March 2025
April 17, 2026
I finally got around to Murder by Memory thanks to the local library and was reminded that the worst thing about paper books is the inability to highlight quotes. The best thing is that you can get a rapid sense of pacing by the number of pages, and in this, I was continuously astounded by how few pages were left in the story. A short length can mean minimal character and world-building when it comes to science fiction, unless you are Roger Zelazny. While I found Memory enjoyable enough, Waite is no Zelazny–more like Encyclopedia Brown in space. At just over 100 pages, it doesn’t have time–or the chops–to develop the world adequately enough to astound the reader with the crime and its resolution.
It begins with a generation ship detective, Dorothy Gentleman, suddenly awakening in a new body. We discover this is in contrast to all protocols but happens because the AI mind running the ship is going through a strong magnetic storm, rendering it drunk (now that would be a short story title: Intoxicated on Your Magnetic Storms). Dorothy is tasked with solving the murder of another passenger, Janet Dodd. Luckily, Janet will be able to be re-sleeved into a newly-grown body in a couple of days, so no harm done. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the person who inhabited the body Dorothy is now in, Gloria, as her ‘memory book’ was deliberately destroyed.
So curiously, despite this set-up, Dorothy spends more time solving the murder of Janet, which was impermanent, and not as much time solving the murder of Gloria, which is. I thought the solutions to the mysteries came in a rather quick dump, without any emotional stakes involved. Additionally, the solution(s) to the crime(s) came with a lot of information related to how the generational ship and the human society worked, so it left less impactful. I found myself with so many questions about the ship, but Waite is definitely not of the KSR school of world-building. Richard Morgan puts the ‘memory book’ device to much better–albeit more violent–use.
Character building is alright–one hundred pages doesn’t allow for much–but mostly surrounds the current zeitgeist favorites of knitting, non-hetro relationships, and drinking. I did love Waite’s twist on memory-evocative drinking and brewing (but so many questions!). Her description of a memory rainstorm put me in mind of Zelazny’s storm descriptions.
In short, a mildly interesting mystery with awkward though tantalizing world building. It has the bones of an exploration of memory, embodiment and identity in really curious ways—but ultimately treats those ideas more as setting than substance. Locus worthy? Not yet, or not in this version. I’ll certainly read the next but without any sense of urgency.
It begins with a generation ship detective, Dorothy Gentleman, suddenly awakening in a new body. We discover this is in contrast to all protocols but happens because the AI mind running the ship is going through a strong magnetic storm, rendering it drunk (now that would be a short story title: Intoxicated on Your Magnetic Storms). Dorothy is tasked with solving the murder of another passenger, Janet Dodd. Luckily, Janet will be able to be re-sleeved into a newly-grown body in a couple of days, so no harm done. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the person who inhabited the body Dorothy is now in, Gloria, as her ‘memory book’ was deliberately destroyed.
So curiously, despite this set-up, Dorothy spends more time solving the murder of Janet, which was impermanent, and not as much time solving the murder of Gloria, which is. I thought the solutions to the mysteries came in a rather quick dump, without any emotional stakes involved. Additionally, the solution(s) to the crime(s) came with a lot of information related to how the generational ship and the human society worked, so it left less impactful. I found myself with so many questions about the ship, but Waite is definitely not of the KSR school of world-building. Richard Morgan puts the ‘memory book’ device to much better–albeit more violent–use.
Character building is alright–one hundred pages doesn’t allow for much–but mostly surrounds the current zeitgeist favorites of knitting, non-hetro relationships, and drinking. I did love Waite’s twist on memory-evocative drinking and brewing (but so many questions!). Her description of a memory rainstorm put me in mind of Zelazny’s storm descriptions.
In short, a mildly interesting mystery with awkward though tantalizing world building. It has the bones of an exploration of memory, embodiment and identity in really curious ways—but ultimately treats those ideas more as setting than substance. Locus worthy? Not yet, or not in this version. I’ll certainly read the next but without any sense of urgency.
May 14, 2026
omg just really not a book for me... In some ways I think I am just not the target audience: short, gently cloying mystery is not my preference, but I am reading all of the Hugo nominees, so here we are.
Murder by Memory follows Dorothy, a detective on a generation ship whose consciousness is suddenly forced into another woman's body right after a murder has occurred. What follows is a procedural investigation with some science fiction twists. I'll give it to Olivia Waite in that the writing is good and the setting is interesting: a ship where people can save and reprint copies of themselves, where death and money are essentially rendered meaningless and yet nonetheless can't quite be shaken from society.
There are so many loose threads for a book so short. If people can create new bodies for themselves whenever they want, why does Dorothy struggle with aging? If death means nothing in this world - literally, even the violence that leads to death is erased from memory - why do people still use death and violence as threats? Why does Dorothy say she's too old to feel lust at the tender age of 56? Have any philosophical questions been raised about this new society and how people might live within it? Why are we on a generation ship in the first place??
I am not usually someone who nitpicks worldbuilding like this, and I think all of these points are swept away in favor of Murder by Memory being "cozy." Though it's not even doing that; there are few descriptions of setting or activity or vibe that we could say attempt coziness. It's sort of disappointing that Waite has created a sci-fi novel resting on this level of assumption and invention without considering how it might affect the lives of her characters beyond what's immediately relevant to the plot.
The plot itself is also not without issue. Be forewarned I just fully spoil the book here.
The motive boils down to exploiting a loophole in the banking system - by paying off a debt, that debt is wiped completely from records (silly), so the murderer-who-is-a-banker instructs people to take out loans, accrue an absurd amount of interest in 2 days, then pay the initial loan back so that record from it is wiped. But! To hide the amount of interest that's accrued and which the involved parties pay themselves from, it's revealed that another loan of the exact amount of accrued interest is always taken out a few days beforehand, which then is also subsequently wiped when that interest is paid back. If I understand things correctly, this means no new value is generated: any money that is generated in interest through this loan repayment system (that again, the involved parties are hypothetically splitting as part of their payout-the motivation for the crime) must actually go back to match the first, initial loan that was taken out in the first place in order to erase evidence that it happened. No money is made. It's just repaying loans to one person in their exact amount over and over again. So what now.
In a society where income is essentially irrelevant, why does the culprit need all this money? Even the characters wonder this. No answer is given. No answer is suggested. No conclusions about human nature or greed are really even considered.
I was frustrated with Murder by Memory because I think Olivia Waite has good ideas and does some great stuff on the prose level. Her writing is efficient, sensory, and often fun. And she excels in writing descriptions of beautiful women descending stairs. There's an appeal here that I'm not denying, and I totally get why this series is popular and why it will continue to be. I think I'm mostly just frustrated with books that are not really ABOUT anything - in general and in the fact that books like these are nominated for Hugo awards. This isn't a bad book. But is it our best?
Please note I work for Macmillan but opinions are my own. I am not involved in book production.
Murder by Memory follows Dorothy, a detective on a generation ship whose consciousness is suddenly forced into another woman's body right after a murder has occurred. What follows is a procedural investigation with some science fiction twists. I'll give it to Olivia Waite in that the writing is good and the setting is interesting: a ship where people can save and reprint copies of themselves, where death and money are essentially rendered meaningless and yet nonetheless can't quite be shaken from society.
There are so many loose threads for a book so short. If people can create new bodies for themselves whenever they want, why does Dorothy struggle with aging? If death means nothing in this world - literally, even the violence that leads to death is erased from memory - why do people still use death and violence as threats? Why does Dorothy say she's too old to feel lust at the tender age of 56? Have any philosophical questions been raised about this new society and how people might live within it? Why are we on a generation ship in the first place??
I am not usually someone who nitpicks worldbuilding like this, and I think all of these points are swept away in favor of Murder by Memory being "cozy." Though it's not even doing that; there are few descriptions of setting or activity or vibe that we could say attempt coziness. It's sort of disappointing that Waite has created a sci-fi novel resting on this level of assumption and invention without considering how it might affect the lives of her characters beyond what's immediately relevant to the plot.
The plot itself is also not without issue. Be forewarned I just fully spoil the book here.
The motive boils down to exploiting a loophole in the banking system - by paying off a debt, that debt is wiped completely from records (silly), so the murderer-who-is-a-banker instructs people to take out loans, accrue an absurd amount of interest in 2 days, then pay the initial loan back so that record from it is wiped. But! To hide the amount of interest that's accrued and which the involved parties pay themselves from, it's revealed that another loan of the exact amount of accrued interest is always taken out a few days beforehand, which then is also subsequently wiped when that interest is paid back. If I understand things correctly, this means no new value is generated: any money that is generated in interest through this loan repayment system (that again, the involved parties are hypothetically splitting as part of their payout-the motivation for the crime) must actually go back to match the first, initial loan that was taken out in the first place in order to erase evidence that it happened. No money is made. It's just repaying loans to one person in their exact amount over and over again. So what now.
In a society where income is essentially irrelevant, why does the culprit need all this money? Even the characters wonder this. No answer is given. No answer is suggested. No conclusions about human nature or greed are really even considered.
I was frustrated with Murder by Memory because I think Olivia Waite has good ideas and does some great stuff on the prose level. Her writing is efficient, sensory, and often fun. And she excels in writing descriptions of beautiful women descending stairs. There's an appeal here that I'm not denying, and I totally get why this series is popular and why it will continue to be. I think I'm mostly just frustrated with books that are not really ABOUT anything - in general and in the fact that books like these are nominated for Hugo awards. This isn't a bad book. But is it our best?
Please note I work for Macmillan but opinions are my own. I am not involved in book production.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2025
A very intriguing and quick read. Spaceship utopia with utopian technologies and the common faults of the human mind… and lesbianism! We live
3.5
3.5
October 2, 2026
To me, this was a fine dining experience, wherein the structure is exquisite and fun to explore, but the food, ultimately, leaves much to be had, it is just not enough.
Or, say, a mansion furnished with doll house furniture. A bit of both.
Or, say, a mansion furnished with doll house furniture. A bit of both.
June 26, 2025
Tordotcom novellas keep getting shorter and shorter and sho..
I know this is not a new accusation and I was actually defending tordotcom a few years ago, because things like All Systems Red or Elder Race while, yes, being shorter than full length novels still felt "book" like, and dense and with complete. But the length of stories tordotcom is putting out at a not inconsiderable price is getting ridiculous. This year The River Has Roots was a disappointment in length at least, particularly when you realize it is padded with another short story, and a long afterword. This is even shorter. And the problem is, it is too short for everything it tries to be, it is all kind of underserved but more on that later.
Tordotcom novellas are also getting to be a bit cookie cutterish, like they come out of a mould with ingredients. Sapphic (or f-x) love story? Check. 1920s kind of setting with cozy vibes but in sf? Check. Hobby which is very female majority? Check. And of course, of course, a scene drinking tea that is meaningful for plot purposes (do they put it in their contracts, that there must be tea? I am a tea snob and could get way didactic about tea to some of these authors but come on, this is getting to be a meme..). I complain about this mostly on principle, because so far this is more interesting, and the setting less unbelievable than a lot of previous examples, but I like new things for the sake of being new... Particularly in sf.
So, in a generation ship, people keep getting new bodies for the same minds when their old ones run out. For some reason the vibe is all 1920s, Wodehousian aunt and club references (Ruthie does not go all the way to a Wodehouse bright young thing but...), with a ship's detective investigating shenanigans while the ship's mind was incapacitated. And it's all worked out interestingly enough, not really thought provoking as science fiction, but it's just a set for the cozy 1920s vibes and it's fun, more fun to me than other Tor novellas of the same kind.
Olivia Waite was, is, a romance novelist, before writing sf and you can kind of tell that, in a good way, because of the focus in characters, they are interesting, there are dialogues. The romance part was basically just a hint of a developing relationship and it's a bit one sided love at first sight, and that hardly ever works for me particularly when the love interest is hostile. I do not care. The being a romance novelist might explain why the mystery part felt so off, jump to conclusions, complex plot solved too easily and simply because of insight, and it was really quite dull. I was actually more interested in the nephew, his club, his lover...
Fun and I might check more instances - but it also felt too short and too little for this kind of edition. And maybe it is just me, but tordotcom novellas are really not slapping as hard as they used to.
I know this is not a new accusation and I was actually defending tordotcom a few years ago, because things like All Systems Red or Elder Race while, yes, being shorter than full length novels still felt "book" like, and dense and with complete. But the length of stories tordotcom is putting out at a not inconsiderable price is getting ridiculous. This year The River Has Roots was a disappointment in length at least, particularly when you realize it is padded with another short story, and a long afterword. This is even shorter. And the problem is, it is too short for everything it tries to be, it is all kind of underserved but more on that later.
Tordotcom novellas are also getting to be a bit cookie cutterish, like they come out of a mould with ingredients. Sapphic (or f-x) love story? Check. 1920s kind of setting with cozy vibes but in sf? Check. Hobby which is very female majority? Check. And of course, of course, a scene drinking tea that is meaningful for plot purposes (do they put it in their contracts, that there must be tea? I am a tea snob and could get way didactic about tea to some of these authors but come on, this is getting to be a meme..). I complain about this mostly on principle, because so far this is more interesting, and the setting less unbelievable than a lot of previous examples, but I like new things for the sake of being new... Particularly in sf.
So, in a generation ship, people keep getting new bodies for the same minds when their old ones run out. For some reason the vibe is all 1920s, Wodehousian aunt and club references (Ruthie does not go all the way to a Wodehouse bright young thing but...), with a ship's detective investigating shenanigans while the ship's mind was incapacitated. And it's all worked out interestingly enough, not really thought provoking as science fiction, but it's just a set for the cozy 1920s vibes and it's fun, more fun to me than other Tor novellas of the same kind.
Olivia Waite was, is, a romance novelist, before writing sf and you can kind of tell that, in a good way, because of the focus in characters, they are interesting, there are dialogues. The romance part was basically just a hint of a developing relationship and it's a bit one sided love at first sight, and that hardly ever works for me particularly when the love interest is hostile. I do not care. The being a romance novelist might explain why the mystery part felt so off, jump to conclusions, complex plot solved too easily and simply because of insight, and it was really quite dull. I was actually more interested in the nephew, his club, his lover...
Fun and I might check more instances - but it also felt too short and too little for this kind of edition. And maybe it is just me, but tordotcom novellas are really not slapping as hard as they used to.
April 2, 2025
Oh! The Mickey7 of it all! PLEASE, IF YOU LOVE MICKEY READ THIS BOOK!! The vibes are there, PLUS, we have a sapphic detective solving crimes, what more do you need?
I know what I need, MORE OF THIS WORLD!! The audiobook was so good you guys, I finished it in the blink of an eye, and I really liked the world too, and the casual rep we got.
I do wish it was longer so we could have more time with the characters and so the mystery could've taken a while longer to solve, but maybe I'll get that in the next book. It was still so worth the read/listen.
I know what I need, MORE OF THIS WORLD!! The audiobook was so good you guys, I finished it in the blink of an eye, and I really liked the world too, and the casual rep we got.
I do wish it was longer so we could have more time with the characters and so the mystery could've taken a while longer to solve, but maybe I'll get that in the next book. It was still so worth the read/listen.
September 3, 2024
Well, it's 4.5/5 stars, but I'm rounding up because it's the queer scifi cozy murder mystery that I've been Waite-ing for! Not only is this a little book where there are no straight characters (well, episodic Mr. Halloran might be, but who cares?), but it's also so freaking inventive with its premise and the thoughtfulness with which it examines its themes. I want there to be like a million sequels and for sure there's a deeper mystery at play here, where we're left off.
This takes place on a ship travelling away from Earth and all the inhabitants have their memories scanned regularly and stored in sort of digital books in the Library. They live out their life in their bodies (which are not perfect & eugenics-y, a lot of them deal with disabilities, which I appreciated), then they die naturally and can choose to either retire for a while in their book or just get a new, slightly different body and carry on.
The politics of the world are super-interesting and thought out. Our main character, Dorothy Gentleman, had retired but finds herself in a random body. She is a detective, but the book carefully diferentiates between the job of ship detective and Earth policemen. The ship has a UBI sort of system with regulations in place against accumulating wealth, but not a perfect system. We have a lovely character mentioning not trusting authority. Marriage doesn't seem to be a thing (there is however a sign of deeper commitment when you shelf your book next to someone else's, which is my kind of commitment)! It's kind of amazing how many interesting details are present in such layered ways in this tiny novella.
And the way this plays with the idea of murder! What does it mean to die / be murdered when you can get a new body? How can that be circumvented? What does safety mean in this situation? What does trust? It's all pretty damn impressive and I've been a fan of Waite's for years, still I am impressed of what she could achieve in around 100 pages. Very excited to read the next installments in this world!
//
I love Olivia Waite's writing and I'm super pumped for this from the description, I kinda want it NOW.
This takes place on a ship travelling away from Earth and all the inhabitants have their memories scanned regularly and stored in sort of digital books in the Library. They live out their life in their bodies (which are not perfect & eugenics-y, a lot of them deal with disabilities, which I appreciated), then they die naturally and can choose to either retire for a while in their book or just get a new, slightly different body and carry on.
The politics of the world are super-interesting and thought out. Our main character, Dorothy Gentleman, had retired but finds herself in a random body. She is a detective, but the book carefully diferentiates between the job of ship detective and Earth policemen. The ship has a UBI sort of system with regulations in place against accumulating wealth, but not a perfect system. We have a lovely character mentioning not trusting authority. Marriage doesn't seem to be a thing (there is however a sign of deeper commitment when you shelf your book next to someone else's, which is my kind of commitment)! It's kind of amazing how many interesting details are present in such layered ways in this tiny novella.
And the way this plays with the idea of murder! What does it mean to die / be murdered when you can get a new body? How can that be circumvented? What does safety mean in this situation? What does trust? It's all pretty damn impressive and I've been a fan of Waite's for years, still I am impressed of what she could achieve in around 100 pages. Very excited to read the next installments in this world!
//
I love Olivia Waite's writing and I'm super pumped for this from the description, I kinda want it NOW.
December 8, 2024
everyone is immortal and gay in space and add in a quickly solved murder for a very fun time. loved the vibe of how memories are used and would def read more ngl
January 22, 2026
Damn the novella curse got me again! This book had cool ideas but unfortunately, it did not have enough pages.
Murder by Memory is a sci-fi mystery novella set on a spaceship where people upload their memories and essentially live forever in new bodies. Which sounds so interesting! And also like the setup for a much longer book. Instead, the worldbuilding felt oddly thin, the societal implications were barely explored and the mystery is solved very easily, with no real chance for the reader to play along. (At one point the mystery was almost like trying to figure out my taxes…)
Murder by Memory is a sci-fi mystery novella set on a spaceship where people upload their memories and essentially live forever in new bodies. Which sounds so interesting! And also like the setup for a much longer book. Instead, the worldbuilding felt oddly thin, the societal implications were barely explored and the mystery is solved very easily, with no real chance for the reader to play along. (At one point the mystery was almost like trying to figure out my taxes…)
December 24, 2025
As I said when I started this, I only read it to earn one of those bookmark badge thingies from GR. And because I wanted a scifi mystery à la Murder, She Wrote (which is almost en par with a Miss Marple mystery). And that is pretty much what I got.
We are on a starship. Humans are no longer bound to their one bodily lifetime. Instead, their consciousness is copied into a "book" which is then shelved in a special library. When our detective, Dorothy, wakes up, she's not in a clone of her body but somebody else's. The ship is drinkenly informing her that there's been a murder. Yep, you read that correctly, the ship is DRUNK. Or as close as. There is a magnetic storm that is having this effect on it and providing the perfect opportunity for *someone* to not only have murdered the one person but to have erased several of the "books".
For a story this short, this was pretty nice. Maybe it was, in fact, the shortness that made the story work so well. Not sure if I will continue with this series, but I actually might since the atmosphere was quite cozy and the writing very nicely descriptive.
We are on a starship. Humans are no longer bound to their one bodily lifetime. Instead, their consciousness is copied into a "book" which is then shelved in a special library. When our detective, Dorothy, wakes up, she's not in a clone of her body but somebody else's. The ship is drinkenly informing her that there's been a murder. Yep, you read that correctly, the ship is DRUNK. Or as close as. There is a magnetic storm that is having this effect on it and providing the perfect opportunity for *someone* to not only have murdered the one person but to have erased several of the "books".
For a story this short, this was pretty nice. Maybe it was, in fact, the shortness that made the story work so well. Not sure if I will continue with this series, but I actually might since the atmosphere was quite cozy and the writing very nicely descriptive.
June 9, 2025
I had great fun with this queer science fiction cozy mystery, although it felt like it went by too quickly! (I barely had time to wonder who/how/why the crime had happened before all was revealed).
This book has a vividly realized detective character, unique world-building, and a twisty puzzle: what else could you want?
How and why does someone commit murder, when humans have been living in a spaceship for centuries, immortal due to their minds being saved in 'books' in the library until it's time to put them back in a new body, memories intact?
Everyone here is queer, gotta love it.
This book has a vividly realized detective character, unique world-building, and a twisty puzzle: what else could you want?
How and why does someone commit murder, when humans have been living in a spaceship for centuries, immortal due to their minds being saved in 'books' in the library until it's time to put them back in a new body, memories intact?
Everyone here is queer, gotta love it.
April 29, 2026
Catching up on the Hugo noms for this year. This novella is good if all you're looking for is a paint-by-numbers murder mystery which just happens to cross over into upload-time.
It's definitely a Miss Marple SF adventure. Which is great for what it is.
But is it Hugo territory? Maybe, if we're low on choices. But that isn't exactly true. It's just that many never get the traction they deserve.
I miss wild abandon in creativity. This is just comfort territory.
It's definitely a Miss Marple SF adventure. Which is great for what it is.
But is it Hugo territory? Maybe, if we're low on choices. But that isn't exactly true. It's just that many never get the traction they deserve.
I miss wild abandon in creativity. This is just comfort territory.
April 9, 2025
* 2.25⭐️ 0🌶️
* The jist of this 100 page sci fi novella is you have a book and a body. Your memories and thoughts are your book and your body is the vessel. When you die from regular aging or an accident you are allowed to take your book (mind) and transfer it into a new body based on your preferences. They call where all the “books” are stored the library and you can hang in the library for a little if you need a rest in between bodies.
* Our main character is a detective, Dorothy on board the fair weather which is a space ship. She woke up in a new body and her “book” erased. There was also a murder on the ship that she doesn’t remember anything about. But the body Dorothy is in now is somehow connected to the woman who was killed.
* Story was really confusing to follow at some times since they were all females and they each had romantic ties with eachother.
* I didn’t truly understand the story or get the ending but there was parts of the story that I did enjoy but I felt like I was missing the bigger picture or the plot completely.
* The jist of this 100 page sci fi novella is you have a book and a body. Your memories and thoughts are your book and your body is the vessel. When you die from regular aging or an accident you are allowed to take your book (mind) and transfer it into a new body based on your preferences. They call where all the “books” are stored the library and you can hang in the library for a little if you need a rest in between bodies.
* Our main character is a detective, Dorothy on board the fair weather which is a space ship. She woke up in a new body and her “book” erased. There was also a murder on the ship that she doesn’t remember anything about. But the body Dorothy is in now is somehow connected to the woman who was killed.
* Story was really confusing to follow at some times since they were all females and they each had romantic ties with eachother.
* I didn’t truly understand the story or get the ending but there was parts of the story that I did enjoy but I felt like I was missing the bigger picture or the plot completely.
June 11, 2025
Murder by Memory is mercifully short. The mystery mostly concerns the motive, which is mired in the economic details of an interstellar starship on a millennial voyage. The nephew serves no purpose to the story as far as I can tell, and the web of romantic relationships only muddles the plot further. The random assortment of sci-fi elements are superficial and unsophisticated. The only real mystery here is how this story found a publisher and a spot on a Goodreads reading challenge list.
April 10, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
Another cozy mystery series I actually like! I love that they are going more mainstream, and becoming less formulaic and more creative as the genre expands. This one is set in space! Our main character is Dorothy Gentleman, ship's detective. She is awoken from a two year "sleep" (characters on this ship have their memories stored in books so when they die they can be reawakened in new bodies). This is a fun alternative to characters being in cryosleep or something similar while their ship journeys a thousand years to a new planet. It's also a great set-up for a murder mystery, where the victims don't always remain dead and can be murdered more than once.
This is a pretty short little book, even for a novella, but it packs a lot in there! Dorothy has to figure out who has destroyed her (and others') memory books, what the dead woman in her room has to do with it all, and makes full use of her new body, who turns out to be very much involved in the events of the plot. What better disguise?
Absolutely will be reading further books in this series, and I actually liked this a lot better than Waite's romance novels! Definitely recommend for mystery fans, sci-fans, and particularly for fans of cozy sci-fi mysteries. This hit the spot for sure.
[4.5 stars]
Buzzword Reading Challenge 2025: memory words
Another cozy mystery series I actually like! I love that they are going more mainstream, and becoming less formulaic and more creative as the genre expands. This one is set in space! Our main character is Dorothy Gentleman, ship's detective. She is awoken from a two year "sleep" (characters on this ship have their memories stored in books so when they die they can be reawakened in new bodies). This is a fun alternative to characters being in cryosleep or something similar while their ship journeys a thousand years to a new planet. It's also a great set-up for a murder mystery, where the victims don't always remain dead and can be murdered more than once.
This is a pretty short little book, even for a novella, but it packs a lot in there! Dorothy has to figure out who has destroyed her (and others') memory books, what the dead woman in her room has to do with it all, and makes full use of her new body, who turns out to be very much involved in the events of the plot. What better disguise?
Absolutely will be reading further books in this series, and I actually liked this a lot better than Waite's romance novels! Definitely recommend for mystery fans, sci-fans, and particularly for fans of cozy sci-fi mysteries. This hit the spot for sure.
[4.5 stars]
Buzzword Reading Challenge 2025: memory words
November 30, 2025
futuristic scifi cozy murder mystery, and nearly every character is casually queer! what a time to be alive.
it took me a while to get warmed up to the structure of this world. aboard the enormous spacecraft our characters call home, consciousnesses can be shelves like books at a library when occupants are between bodies. it's an odd type of immortality. meanwhile, investigations are done by volunteer detectives rather than cops, there's a system in place to keep people from hoarding inordinate wealth across lifetimes, and having your memories shelves next to a loved one's is peak romance! is this utopian?
i also love that despite the futuristic setting, one of story's locales is a yarn store! and our sapphic protagonist loves to knit. it's so fun to see a scifi world infused with classic coziness.
this book is short and sweet and so interesting. i think i will probably enjoy future volumes more as i become more familiar with this universe.
it took me a while to get warmed up to the structure of this world. aboard the enormous spacecraft our characters call home, consciousnesses can be shelves like books at a library when occupants are between bodies. it's an odd type of immortality. meanwhile, investigations are done by volunteer detectives rather than cops, there's a system in place to keep people from hoarding inordinate wealth across lifetimes, and having your memories shelves next to a loved one's is peak romance! is this utopian?
i also love that despite the futuristic setting, one of story's locales is a yarn store! and our sapphic protagonist loves to knit. it's so fun to see a scifi world infused with classic coziness.
this book is short and sweet and so interesting. i think i will probably enjoy future volumes more as i become more familiar with this universe.
August 29, 2025
I'm back in 2026 to be honest with myself and round down from 2.5 stars. The mystery structure doesn't work well, the worldbuilding makes no sense, and I find myself only remembering the details that annoyed me when I think back. Some parts were okay in the moment, but this is a lukewarm execution of a cozy-mystery framework that I don't particularly enjoy.
//
I've fallen off on writing longer reviews lately, so I wanted to say something about this one before I took it back to the library, but I find that I remember very little about it. This was a 2.5 to 3-star read to me: enjoyable in some ways, just not special or particularly well-structured.
My core gripe is a mild spoiler:
I have other related problems, largely boiling down to the way the whole world is designed around the aesthetics of coziness with no regard for logic. The ship needs to sound like a cheerful drunkard during space storms, so most the IT work is done by one brilliant but careless man with no oversight or backup. We need the glamour of a cruise ship without any uncomfortable implications about a servant class, so technology takes care of everything. We need tea and knitting because that's just how cozy SFF works, so there's gorgeous yarn around. I think this would be a hit for someone who wants a light comfort read and loves the trappings of Agatha Christie (if not the amazing structure), but I found it a lukewarm reading experience.
The sequel involves a mystery baby, so I absolutely won't be reading it unless it makes the eventual Hugo ballot-- we'll see how this volume does first. However, I would be more interested in a sequel featuring Violet, who's by far the most interesting character (and the most insightful about the flaws of this system) and unfortunately not the protagonist.
//
First impressions: I tried this novella because I wanted a good spaceship mystery, but I'm still looking for one. The early chapters focus heavily on the beauty and convenience of the spaceship, providing a lot of cute details at the expense of setting up any of the major clues to come. If you want a cozy-feeling mystery framework about a volunteer detective, you might enjoy this love letter to the joys of knitting. If you want to sink your teeth into the clues, you'll be frustrated by the mix of missing information and details that seem blindingly obvious to the reader. Not my cup of tea (though I would read a sequel focusing on the most intriguing and morally grey character). However, the sequel seems to be about a mystery baby, which is altogether the opposite direction-- tragic. RTC.
Other recommendations:
- For another glamorous-spaceship murder mystery, try The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. It's not my favorite, but it has more action and moving parts if you want to get your teeth into a longer mystery in a similar setting.
//
I've fallen off on writing longer reviews lately, so I wanted to say something about this one before I took it back to the library, but I find that I remember very little about it. This was a 2.5 to 3-star read to me: enjoyable in some ways, just not special or particularly well-structured.
My core gripe is a mild spoiler:
I have other related problems, largely boiling down to the way the whole world is designed around the aesthetics of coziness with no regard for logic. The ship needs to sound like a cheerful drunkard during space storms, so most the IT work is done by one brilliant but careless man with no oversight or backup. We need the glamour of a cruise ship without any uncomfortable implications about a servant class, so technology takes care of everything. We need tea and knitting because that's just how cozy SFF works, so there's gorgeous yarn around. I think this would be a hit for someone who wants a light comfort read and loves the trappings of Agatha Christie (if not the amazing structure), but I found it a lukewarm reading experience.
The sequel involves a mystery baby, so I absolutely won't be reading it unless it makes the eventual Hugo ballot-- we'll see how this volume does first. However, I would be more interested in a sequel featuring Violet, who's by far the most interesting character (and the most insightful about the flaws of this system) and unfortunately not the protagonist.
//
First impressions: I tried this novella because I wanted a good spaceship mystery, but I'm still looking for one. The early chapters focus heavily on the beauty and convenience of the spaceship, providing a lot of cute details at the expense of setting up any of the major clues to come. If you want a cozy-feeling mystery framework about a volunteer detective, you might enjoy this love letter to the joys of knitting. If you want to sink your teeth into the clues, you'll be frustrated by the mix of missing information and details that seem blindingly obvious to the reader. Not my cup of tea (though I would read a sequel focusing on the most intriguing and morally grey character). However, the sequel seems to be about a mystery baby, which is altogether the opposite direction-- tragic. RTC.
Other recommendations:
- For another glamorous-spaceship murder mystery, try The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. It's not my favorite, but it has more action and moving parts if you want to get your teeth into a longer mystery in a similar setting.
February 21, 2025
What a fun ride! This is for the reader who wants a cozy murder-mystery, with queer characters, and a sci-fi twist. It's also a novella, and the first in a series! The amount of world-building in such few words is some expert-level sh**. I can't wait to see where these characters go and follow along on the journey. Definitely recommend!
March 21, 2026
This sci-fi, mystery was the perfect quick and cozy audiobook for a rainy afternoon! Sci-fi is not my favourite genre, and it took me a few chapters to grasp the world and all of the characters in this novella. However, the overall concept was really cool, and I loved the parts about knitting and yarn! I will definitely be listening to the sequel soon. 💛
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