Hardcover, 368 pages
English language
Published Oct. 11, 2022 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in space with her talent for creating glittering high-society in this stylish SF mystery, The Spare Man.
Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She's traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling--and keep the real killer from striking again.
Some compelling elements, but as a murder-mystery there's a bit too much "Why are they doing this?" and, ultimately, an unsatisfying conclusion.
The spaceship makes for an interesting take on a locked room mystery because the entire investigation take place in the spaceship as well, like a giant game of murder wink in the not-too-distant future.
What really let this book down for me was the POV character. I found Tesla INSUFFERABLE. The first third of the book is her constant unpleasant and hostile interactions with the staff of the ship, for a reason yes, but it was really really hard to get through. I liked that we could see her thinking about her actions, how she dealt with PTSD and pain, shes an objectively well written character who is decidedly Not For Me.
This book would have been better minus infinite money and a lawyer on speed dial.
I really enjoyed this book, decent mystery, and interesting characters.
And a very cute dog.
This authors reading of the audio was excellent as well.
I've read and enjoyed all of Kowal's books. The worldbuilding is considered & smart, and her characters are always horny for each other (often, newlyweds).
Didn't expect a mystery, but this was fun. Initially annoyed by all the cocktail recipes, but she persuaded me to seek out complex flavors of the non-alcoholic variety (my preference). I always learn something from her, including a 5-senses grounding technique.
Witty low stakes riff, not so noir - the vibe is more 5th Element romp given the cruise ship setting, and the mystery bends to suit - but true to the original in prominent stiff drinks, and comfortably egalitarian in gender roles.
I've never read Dashiell Hammett's "The Thin Man", but if that's a grounded precursor to this spacefaring mystery I should! This was a fun sci-fi/noir/mystery romp with great characters (and excellent dog representation).
Early on I was noticing all the accessibility/inclusion bits more than the story itself, which certainly prompts some self-reflection. There's a certain obvious silliness in accepting an interplanetary honeymoon cruise without missing a beat, but tripping over gender-neutral titles.
Once I settled into the story I was fully engaged and could not stop reading (mostly listening actually - the narration is top notch as usual from the author).
I'm looking forward to the upcoming/teased episode of the Writing Excuses podcast in which Mary Robinette will take us deeper into this book.
Fantine is my hero. I want a cup of tea with her and Avasarala from the Expanse series.
I love Mary Robinette Kowal’s science fiction books. This is a very different type of story. It is a mystery that gave me a bit of a 1920/1930s vibe (banter and cocktails) while being set on a cruise ship moving between the Moon and Mars.
Tesla Crane is a famous inventor and celebrity. She is traveling on her honeymoon and has paid a lot of money to be incognito. All her careful plans fall apart when a few days into her cruise, a woman is murdered and Tesla’s husband is arrested.
It is established early on in the story that Tesla was in some sort of bad accident several years ago. She has chronic pain from that. She has implanted pain control devices. She still has issues with too much activity. Sometimes she walks with a cane. She also has PTSD and works with a service dog named Gimlet. Her …
I love Mary Robinette Kowal’s science fiction books. This is a very different type of story. It is a mystery that gave me a bit of a 1920/1930s vibe (banter and cocktails) while being set on a cruise ship moving between the Moon and Mars.
Tesla Crane is a famous inventor and celebrity. She is traveling on her honeymoon and has paid a lot of money to be incognito. All her careful plans fall apart when a few days into her cruise, a woman is murdered and Tesla’s husband is arrested.
It is established early on in the story that Tesla was in some sort of bad accident several years ago. She has chronic pain from that. She has implanted pain control devices. She still has issues with too much activity. Sometimes she walks with a cane. She also has PTSD and works with a service dog named Gimlet. Her health problems play a large part in the story.
I love Tesla’s lawyer. She keeps video calling her whenever there is an issue with security on the cruise. Because of the distance there is a lag in communication. It starts out at 3 minutes and gets longer as the ships moves towards Mars. Because of this each party just talks and the other responds as they get the message. The lawyer is a woman who knits to work out her anger. She has a lot of anger. Don’t let her run out of yarn. Her side of these calls is just long monologues of insults and creative threats that I loved. She was my favorite part of the book.
The science aspects of the story are taken very seriously. A lot of thought went into how an interplanetary cruise ship would work. Different levels have different gravities for people from the Moon, Mars, or Earth.
One thing really bothered me though. Tesla has a service dog. She loves her dog. At one point the dog is abducted. (The dog is fine. That is not a spoiler. It is absolutely necessary to know in any book that the animal will be fine.) But, Tesla is able to think about other things while her dog is missing. I don’t care how many humans are being murdered on a ship. If one of my pets was missing, I would be tearing that ship apart piece by piece until I found them. Then we can work on solving murders. That part didn’t seem realistic. At one point she makes a choice to follow her husband for potential backup instead of following the sound of barking to see if she could find the dog. I would have been the next person murdered once my husband found out that I had followed him instead of finding our dog.
Tesla and her husband are very into cocktails. Each chapter starts with a cocktail recipe. I don’t know anything about drinks so I don’t know if they are good or not but there are some nonalcoholic ones to try if you aren’t into the hard stuff.
There are a lot of ideas in this book that don’t come together into a cohesive whole. I didn’t find the mystery all that engaging but liked some of the characters. I liked the exploration of disability in the future. There was a good acknowledgement of class privilege when Tesla had to decide whether to give up her anonymity in order to be able to go full “Don’t you know who I am?” on people who were trying to bully her and railroad her husband. Overall it was good but not as great as some of this author’s other books.
This was relatively fun light reading in the same alternate timeline where an astroid hits Earth right after WW2 and we immediately make the jump to space. We get rich heiresses, famous detectives, a ship traveling between Earth and Mars as a “locked room” and of course, plenty of murder and drama. It’s a Murder on the Orient Express/Death on the Nile in space kind of setup. Strong female lead, weird alternate technology that almost feels like Niven from the 1970’s, it’s all good fun!
I will be honest, I always end up reading Kowal’s stuff to see what crazy things she’s dreamed up for her alternate timeline more than because I absolutely love her writing. She still does far too much “inner voice of struggle” exposition, IMHO. But even with that, her vision of the future is also so fun that I always enjoy myself in spite if it. …
This was relatively fun light reading in the same alternate timeline where an astroid hits Earth right after WW2 and we immediately make the jump to space. We get rich heiresses, famous detectives, a ship traveling between Earth and Mars as a “locked room” and of course, plenty of murder and drama. It’s a Murder on the Orient Express/Death on the Nile in space kind of setup. Strong female lead, weird alternate technology that almost feels like Niven from the 1970’s, it’s all good fun!
I will be honest, I always end up reading Kowal’s stuff to see what crazy things she’s dreamed up for her alternate timeline more than because I absolutely love her writing. She still does far too much “inner voice of struggle” exposition, IMHO. But even with that, her vision of the future is also so fun that I always enjoy myself in spite if it. Hence the 4 of 5 ⭐️ not 5 of 5.
But if you’ve liked her stuff before or you want a good murder mystery in space, give it a shot! I’d say it’s worth the read.
(Also, if you ever want a more hard-boiled mystery set on the moon with IMHO better writing, try Gunpowder Moon by David Pedreira.)
Wonderful mixture of mystery, murder, delightful dogs and a lawyer I want a new book just about her!
This book is rich with detail, zero and full proof cocktail recipes, and characters I kept wondering about when I had to put the book down.
