Review by Booklist Review
A detective's consciousness has been unexpectedly loaded into the body of a murder suspect at the onset of this intriguing sf-mystery novella from Waite, best known for sapphic historical romance (like The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, 2020). Dorothy Gentleman, ship's detective, is used to waking up in a new body--she has gone through several in the centuries since the Fairweather set out on its thousand-year voyage. But waking up in someone else's body is a new and disconcerting experience, the former occupant's mind jettisoned in order to preserve her own following sabotage of the ship inhabitants' memory books. And there's a dead body to investigate. Solving a mystery after a two-year break from life while wearing the body of a suspect is no small task, but Dorothy is up to the challenge, aided by her nephew, his new-to-her partner, a surly yarn-shop owner, and the decedent herself. Despite tantalizing hints at never-explored depths, Waite's fascinating take on a generation ship lends an interesting twist to the structure of the mystery and will satisfy readers who prize novel world building.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Centuries-old detective Dorothy Gentleman serves as the charming narrator for the ebullient first foray into speculative fiction from romance author Waite (the Feminine Pursuits series). In a far future universe in which people's consciousnesses can be stored in memory books for easy regeneration into new bodies, Dorothy is the ship detective aboard the interstellar generationship HMS Fairweather. On the same day that passenger Janet Dodds is found dead, Dorothy's memory book is erased. Fortunately, the ship has an automatic backup and pulls Dorothy into a body previously occupied by banker Gloria Vowell to preserve her consciousness. Suspecting that the death and the erasure are connected, Dorothy investigates. After determining Janet's death to be a murder, she visits her genius nephew, Ruthie Talmadge, who reveals that he recently discovered how to erase a memory book--and that Gloria's pockets contain the necessary items to do so. With more digging into Gloria's life, Dorothy becomes suspicious that an even more elaborate crime is afoot. Waite perfectly blends futuristic technology and cozy mystery with lush descriptions and a twisty plot that delivers at every turn. Readers will be eager to hear more from Dorothy. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Dorothy Gentleman has put her lifelong propensity towards nosiness to work as a detective aboard the HMS Fairweather. The ship is on a centuries-long interstellar voyage, providing living and working space for passengers whose bodies may die but whose consciousnesses can be downloaded into fresh bodies whenever needed. Dorothy's consciousness is taking a rest before she enters her new vessel, but then she abruptly awakens in someone else's body to investigate a murder that seems to have neither motive nor opportunity. It may even have been committed by the hands that now belong to the detective conducting the investigation. As sci-fi as the setting is, Dorothy's investigation has all the hallmarks of a classic cozy mystery as she does her best updated Miss Marple routine while poking into the lives and loves of both the murder victim and the chief suspect. Dorothy is terrific as an investigator, and traveling the space lanes from inside her wry, witty head is a great way to solve a mystery. VERDICT Fans of Mary Robinette Kowal's The Spare Man and Grace Curtis's Floating Hotel will love this opening entry in a new space-cruise SF mystery series from Waite (The Hellion's Waltz).--Marlene Harris
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The detective on an interstellar passenger ship becomes embroiled in a murder involving indefinitely preserved minds and switched bodies. Narrator Dorothy Gentleman never expected to suddenly wake up in another woman's body. But when a magnetic storm threatens to damage the glass library book containing all of Dorothy's memories, the ship's computer does an emergency download of the detective's mind into the body of a young woman named Gloria Vowell and tells her that another body is lying dead elsewhere on the ship. As Dorothy proceeds with her investigation, she makes another shocking discovery: Gloria and the deceased are connected. In this tightly plotted novella, Waite follows Dorothy as she uncovers the truth behind why the victim, Janet Dodds, had drowned in a bathtub full of "memory liqueur," a substance that recalled the loveliest parts of Earth, the planet from which the ship departed 300 years before. Her twisting path leads to encounters with delightfully quirky characters, like her brilliant but irresponsible nephew, Rutherford, and Violet, a yarn-store proprietor who once dated Gloria and toward whom the narrator is instantly attracted. Her investigations lead to the discovery that Janet's memory book--which sat near the one containing her own memories--was deliberately sabotaged rather than storm-damaged, and that Gloria is now irrecoverably dead. Horrified that a killer may be roaming the ship and that the woman she has fallen for may be involved, Dorothy realizes that she must quickly bring the first real murderer of her interstellar investigative career to justice or risk the quasi-immortality she and her shipmates have taken for granted. Intelligent and always surprising, Waite's book artfully weaves a queer love story into a unique mystery/science fiction hybrid form that is pure entertainment from start to finish. An engaging novella that combines cozy-mystery charm with the edginess of high-tech SF. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
