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Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express: A Wozinak & Ketteridge Murder Mystery
Apologies, this edition is no longer in print and has been replaced by a new edition
302 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 12, 2017
4 people want to read
About the author
Steve Downes
49 books227 followersSteve Downes is an Irish contemporary poet and novelist, currently living and working in Ireland. Educated in N.U.I. Maynooth, he holds a Degree in Classical History and a Masters in Cultural Anthropology.
Steve’s latest books are, Fyre & Stone (BLKDOG Publishing, 2021) & Fyre & Stone: Resurrection Men (BLKDOG Publishing, 2024)
Steve is a published poet since 1996, his poetry collections to-date are: A Human Veneer, A Landscape For Yourself and Dawn at Midnight (anthology).
Steve’s first novel was published in 2013, his novels to-date are: Cosmogonic Marbles, Temporal Tome, Gadzooks Armageddon and Botolf Tales (the Botolf Chronicles), Warworld: Shadows & Dominions (part 1), Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express and The Deaths of Guner Zoon.
Steve has also published three children’s Books: The Upstairs Cat Series (3 books).
Steve continues to write and publish work in many genres.
In 2017 & 2018 Steve exhibited from his collections of historical photographs, Lost Graveyards of Ireland (2017) and A Landscape For Yourself (2018).
Steve’s latest books are, Fyre & Stone (BLKDOG Publishing, 2021) & Fyre & Stone: Resurrection Men (BLKDOG Publishing, 2024)
Steve is a published poet since 1996, his poetry collections to-date are: A Human Veneer, A Landscape For Yourself and Dawn at Midnight (anthology).
Steve’s first novel was published in 2013, his novels to-date are: Cosmogonic Marbles, Temporal Tome, Gadzooks Armageddon and Botolf Tales (the Botolf Chronicles), Warworld: Shadows & Dominions (part 1), Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express and The Deaths of Guner Zoon.
Steve has also published three children’s Books: The Upstairs Cat Series (3 books).
Steve continues to write and publish work in many genres.
In 2017 & 2018 Steve exhibited from his collections of historical photographs, Lost Graveyards of Ireland (2017) and A Landscape For Yourself (2018).
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 30, 2017
Fascinating characters, a deep world, action-packed story and great dialogue – all this and more await readers of Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express.
This was a fun book. I loved the idea of "oldest and most opulent space liner in the galaxy" running on a false time engine. Downes gives us a peek into a far-future Earth where humans have embraced caste and class, with some born as "highers" and others born as "lowers" and very little ability to move between the two. In this classic underdog story, a lower detective who is on the verge of being fired pairs up with a Desstarian, a sentient being from the alien world of Desstar, to solve a murder on a tight deadline. In the process, he redeems himself, discovers a mentor and friend, and solves the crime.
This book was exciting enough to keep me reading, despite some clear issues with editing and formatting that might put off other readers. For this reason, I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5.
The first few chapters were interspersed with excerpts from "Book of all Things," which were nothing more than backstory dumps. These excerpts did not add to my reading experience and they could have been omitted (or moved to an appendix) with no impact on the story. Partly as a result of these diversions, the murder itself didn't happen until chapter 10, which was 28% of the way through the book.
This novel could have benefited from a good proofreading and a professional formatting. There were a number of grammar and spelling issues, more than I would expect. And the formatting on my Kindle was poor - e.g., some paragraphs were double-spaced, while others were single-spaced. Double-spacing is a convention that can be used to indicate a break to a new scene or a lapse of time, so it took me awhile to get used to ignoring these.
Despite my criticisms above, I did really enjoy this book, and I would pick up another Steve Downes novel without hesitation.
This was a fun book. I loved the idea of "oldest and most opulent space liner in the galaxy" running on a false time engine. Downes gives us a peek into a far-future Earth where humans have embraced caste and class, with some born as "highers" and others born as "lowers" and very little ability to move between the two. In this classic underdog story, a lower detective who is on the verge of being fired pairs up with a Desstarian, a sentient being from the alien world of Desstar, to solve a murder on a tight deadline. In the process, he redeems himself, discovers a mentor and friend, and solves the crime.
This book was exciting enough to keep me reading, despite some clear issues with editing and formatting that might put off other readers. For this reason, I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5.
The first few chapters were interspersed with excerpts from "Book of all Things," which were nothing more than backstory dumps. These excerpts did not add to my reading experience and they could have been omitted (or moved to an appendix) with no impact on the story. Partly as a result of these diversions, the murder itself didn't happen until chapter 10, which was 28% of the way through the book.
This novel could have benefited from a good proofreading and a professional formatting. There were a number of grammar and spelling issues, more than I would expect. And the formatting on my Kindle was poor - e.g., some paragraphs were double-spaced, while others were single-spaced. Double-spacing is a convention that can be used to indicate a break to a new scene or a lapse of time, so it took me awhile to get used to ignoring these.
Despite my criticisms above, I did really enjoy this book, and I would pick up another Steve Downes novel without hesitation.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2020
Very enjoyable
Thoroughly entertaining and has more depth than the title would suggest. The central detective pairing is worth another outing and I would be interested in knowing more about the alien worlds.
Some slight issues with editing/formatting hence one star short of a full house.
Thoroughly entertaining and has more depth than the title would suggest. The central detective pairing is worth another outing and I would be interested in knowing more about the alien worlds.
Some slight issues with editing/formatting hence one star short of a full house.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews