I was quite excited to get an ARC for Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (on sale March 18!), because I am already a huge fan of her queer romances (Hen Fever is a DELIGHT). So when I heard her newest novella was not only sci fi, but a cozy murder mystery (two genres that I think need more crossover), I was very excited, and my anticipation paid off. Murder by Memory is, as advertised, incredibly cozy, with main character Dorothy Gentlemen doing some old-fashioned sleuthing as she attempts to solve a murder in a magnetic storm, figure out if her nephew needs a talking to, and sneak in some flirting in her spare time. The world-building is fun, the mystery is tightly-paced, and the biggest downfall is that it’s not longer because I zipped right through this and could have read more.
Our story begins when Dorothy Gentleman, ship’s detective, wakes up in a lift in a body that is not her own. This is surprising to her, because she wasn’t scheduled to be re-printed for quite a few years yet, and it should have been in her familiar body. This is because on the Fairweather the would-be colonists have solved the problem of knowledge-loss and skills degradation by becoming functionally immortal. At any point, you can save your brain and personality as a print in your “book” in the ship’s library, and when your current body gets old, you can print another copy. If life in a space ship grows stale, or the weight of time grows too heavy, one can simply leave behind an order to have a little break before being re-printed. Dorothy, recovering from a complicated break-up, was supposed to be on that break, but is put in a new body because there’s been a murder. There’s also a magnetic storm, so the ship’s brain can’t help her and everything is locked down. She has to figure out what she’s missed and how to navigate operating in an unfamiliar body at the same time. All in the life of a detective in space.
I thought Waite was particularly deft with the world-building in a novella, which I know she has past experience in doing. Because this is a cozy setting about essentially a locked-room murder (no outsiders on a spaceship), a lot of the hardships and horrors of space have been waved away with convenient technology, which I was ready to embrace in the nature of a Star Trek-like society. Sometimes we can read about luxury space travel instead of a Weyland-Yutani future as a treat! It was precisely what I wanted to read about on a cold winter night, but I also appreciated the inventive way that Waite introduced conflict and obstacles into this seemingly-serene environment, and we get all of this with a minimum of clunky exposition that left me wildly curious about the implications in greater ship society.
Dorothy was also a great character. Largely unflappable through the weight of long experience and pragmatic in the classic way of the singular detective, Dorothy nonetheless maintains enough joie de vivre to be interested in what changes have happened to neighborhoods she has not visited in a while and to be delighted by small normal things like a yarn shop and a particularly fine piece of fiber work. Not entirely over the complex circumstances of her breakup, Dorothy can also still feel a spark of interest in a beautiful woman who she encounters in the course of her investigation. Although matters do not progress very far, I can’t wait to see further developments in future books.
Murder by Memory comes out on March 18,, so run out and order it now, so we can be sure to get lots of additional books! It’s a cute, cozy mystery with some comforting sci-fi world-building, and as a novella, it’s a great little read when you just need a small break for a story. I’m definitely going to put any future installments on my list immediately.
