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Universal Language: The Airlocked Room Mystery
An intriguing murder mystery that pays homage to Asimov’s seminal robot stories and also to the classic detective tale.
Investigator Abbey Oma is dispatched to a remote and failing Martian colony tasked with solving the murder of scientist Jerem Ferrer. The killing took place in an airlock-sealed lab, and the only possible culprit is a robot incapable of harming humans…
Abbey soon discovers the case is by no means as open and shut as she might have hoped, with political and commercial interests at stake and local resentments threatening both her work and her very life.
Investigator Abbey Oma is dispatched to a remote and failing Martian colony tasked with solving the murder of scientist Jerem Ferrer. The killing took place in an airlock-sealed lab, and the only possible culprit is a robot incapable of harming humans…
Abbey soon discovers the case is by no means as open and shut as she might have hoped, with political and commercial interests at stake and local resentments threatening both her work and her very life.
129 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 3, 2021
7 people want to read
About the author
Tim Major
73 books74 followersTim Major is a British Fantasy Award-winning writer and freelance editor from York, UK.
His books include Jekyll & Hyde: Consulting Detectives and a sequel, Jekyll & Hyde: Winter Retreat, plus Snakeskins, Hope Island, three Sherlock Holmes novels and short story collections And the House Lights Dim and Great Robots of History.
Tim’s short stories have been selected for Best of British Science Fiction, Best of British Fantasy and The Best Horror of the Year, and his story ‘The Brazen Head of Westinghouse’ won the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction in 2024.
Find out more at www.timjmajor.com
His books include Jekyll & Hyde: Consulting Detectives and a sequel, Jekyll & Hyde: Winter Retreat, plus Snakeskins, Hope Island, three Sherlock Holmes novels and short story collections And the House Lights Dim and Great Robots of History.
Tim’s short stories have been selected for Best of British Science Fiction, Best of British Fantasy and The Best Horror of the Year, and his story ‘The Brazen Head of Westinghouse’ won the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction in 2024.
Find out more at www.timjmajor.com
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 5, 2021
This is another of the latest batch of Newcon Press novellas and I have to say the most enjoyable of the 2 so far (there is a 3rd when I find it).
As the blurb says it is a locked room mystery but with a difference - which is part of the charm of the story.
The characters are great fun especially the main ones and I think a sign of a great story is that you hope they will appear again in future adventures and I can honestly say that is very much the case here. There are also several questions left unanswered (don't worry they are not central to the story and so are not spoilers rather it feels like the groundwork for something else).
The story is also incredibly evocative of the Martian environment (at least as Tim Major sees it) and I have to say is very atmospheric. So a great read and one I hope is build upon in the future.
As the blurb says it is a locked room mystery but with a difference - which is part of the charm of the story.
The characters are great fun especially the main ones and I think a sign of a great story is that you hope they will appear again in future adventures and I can honestly say that is very much the case here. There are also several questions left unanswered (don't worry they are not central to the story and so are not spoilers rather it feels like the groundwork for something else).
The story is also incredibly evocative of the Martian environment (at least as Tim Major sees it) and I have to say is very atmospheric. So a great read and one I hope is build upon in the future.
May 9, 2021
Review of eBook
The murder of scientist Jerem Ferrer brings investigator Abbey Oma to Tharsis Caraway, a Martian crawler base. The colony, virtually abandoned by Earth, struggles on with no clear purpose. As Abbey investigates, she discovers there are more questions than answers in a case that is far more convoluted than she’d imagined. And the resentment of the few remaining colonists isn’t helping her investigation.
But a man was murdered. In his airlock-sealed laboratory. By a robot incapable of harming a human being . . . .
A strong sense of place anchors this compelling murder mystery that incorporates a respectful nod to Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. With well-defined characters and an intriguing premise, the unfolding story keeps the reader guessing as it takes several unexpected twists.
Abbey Oma, the Optic sent to investigate the scientist’s death, is an appealing, nuanced character who brings an emotional depth to the telling of the tale. She’s smart and observant, with a penchant for badinage; she also has a past with the Martian colony.
Martian crabs, silicon diamonds, aye-ayes, unsettling dreams, and sandscapes keep the story firmly anchored in the science fiction genre, but the heart of the story lies in the space tourist dream that brought the colonists to Mars only to be abandoned and left to their own devices with no support from Earth. There’s a heart-wrenching agony to their story as they doggedly work to keep the base nominally operational; it’s become clear that they don’t matter to Earth or to the company that once supported their colony. And yet, despite an underlying sense of futility, they’ve refused to surrender.
Readers who enjoy science fiction and / or a good mystery will find much to appreciate in this captivating novella.
Highly recommended.
The murder of scientist Jerem Ferrer brings investigator Abbey Oma to Tharsis Caraway, a Martian crawler base. The colony, virtually abandoned by Earth, struggles on with no clear purpose. As Abbey investigates, she discovers there are more questions than answers in a case that is far more convoluted than she’d imagined. And the resentment of the few remaining colonists isn’t helping her investigation.
But a man was murdered. In his airlock-sealed laboratory. By a robot incapable of harming a human being . . . .
A strong sense of place anchors this compelling murder mystery that incorporates a respectful nod to Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. With well-defined characters and an intriguing premise, the unfolding story keeps the reader guessing as it takes several unexpected twists.
Abbey Oma, the Optic sent to investigate the scientist’s death, is an appealing, nuanced character who brings an emotional depth to the telling of the tale. She’s smart and observant, with a penchant for badinage; she also has a past with the Martian colony.
Martian crabs, silicon diamonds, aye-ayes, unsettling dreams, and sandscapes keep the story firmly anchored in the science fiction genre, but the heart of the story lies in the space tourist dream that brought the colonists to Mars only to be abandoned and left to their own devices with no support from Earth. There’s a heart-wrenching agony to their story as they doggedly work to keep the base nominally operational; it’s become clear that they don’t matter to Earth or to the company that once supported their colony. And yet, despite an underlying sense of futility, they’ve refused to surrender.
Readers who enjoy science fiction and / or a good mystery will find much to appreciate in this captivating novella.
Highly recommended.
April 5, 2021
Really loved this - feels like old school SF Murder mystery but has a lead detective who is not in the noir mode but she is more a cross between The Doctor and Columbo. Mix in with a fascinating take on a Mars in decline
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
July 13, 2021
A fun murder mystery set on Mars, with reflections on how we got there and our impact on the universe and ourselves. A wise-cracking investigator from Earth with a vibe a bit like The Martian
May 26, 2021
[Disclaimer: I got this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program] It's no doubt the story starts really well. Ok, you may or may not appreciate the Asimovian echoes; but I appreciated the choice of Tim Mayor to build up slowly the feelings, and even the exterior aspect, of the main character, Abbey Oma. Unfortunately, while going on I got lost in a plot which at least for me does not have head or tails. There are characters who remain dangling, like the niece of the victim Hazel Ferrer or even Franck, the "Watson" of Oma. At the end of the book the killers are not even exposed: Oma just shows who is the instigator. Even the title is a dead clue: sometimes it seems to be the key of the plot, but at the end it was not even a red herring, but just something which could have been happened but is irrelevant. It's a pity, since the story had potential.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews