Murder by Memory
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4.4 • 10 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
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...
Told through Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, this novella is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the series’s next installment.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
