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.
I liked the idea of this book, as a kind of spacefaring Golden Age murder mystery with (literally or metaphorically) champagne receptions, glittering society and so on. There were interesting themes around (ab)uses of power and influence. It was fun trying to guess everyone’s secrets.
I wasn’t quite so taken with the execution, unfortunately. I never really warmed to any of the characters. Tesla’s use of wealth and status to push for whatever she was after at the time felt like an overused bludgeon. And cute doggies are all very well, but Gimlet felt like a Magical Cute Doggie—again, repetitive in use and outcome.
Overall, an entertaining mystery if a bit light on interpersonal nuance for my tastes.
This novel and its author are new to me, but they came highly recommended by a good friend that knows The Thin Man is my favorite movie I try to watch every year around the holidays. This book is by no means a retelling of that classic, but it does draw some inspiration while updatring with touchs like characters introducing themselves with their pronouns, the protagonist having a disability that's a daily reality, and it takes place in SPACE!
Next, as I do witrh most recommendations, I looked to borrow it from the library. However, I noticed that the ebook was DRM-free, so I immediately headed to ebooks.com and grabbed a copy The surest way to get me to buy a book is to offer it without DRM.
And then I realized that this book is a two-for-one! It is both a novel and a cocktail recipe book. Each chapter …
This novel and its author are new to me, but they came highly recommended by a good friend that knows The Thin Man is my favorite movie I try to watch every year around the holidays. This book is by no means a retelling of that classic, but it does draw some inspiration while updatring with touchs like characters introducing themselves with their pronouns, the protagonist having a disability that's a daily reality, and it takes place in SPACE!
Next, as I do witrh most recommendations, I looked to borrow it from the library. However, I noticed that the ebook was DRM-free, so I immediately headed to ebooks.com and grabbed a copy The surest way to get me to buy a book is to offer it without DRM.
And then I realized that this book is a two-for-one! It is both a novel and a cocktail recipe book. Each chapter is named after a classic cocktail (except the few the author made up herself) and is then preceded by the recipe for that cocktail. Both the print and ebook editions provide a quick reference for some excellent cocktails, which I plan to work through in the next year. Warning to the intrepid reader: the chapters are short and beg to be read quickly, so it would be unwise to attempt to drink each chapter's namesake as one proceeds through the book.
The Spare Man gets a lot closer to the protagonist than Dashiell Hammett's Thin Man. We really get a sense of what Tesla feels as she interacts with the other characters in the story, creating a real connection for the reader. Also, the book exhibits a great element of good, readable science fiction in that the Sci-Fi is hardly noticeable. There are places where it is a serious part of the setting and plot, however, the general story could stand anytime on its own.
Overall a fun, quick read and highly recommended for people that like some combination of noir, sci-fi, mystery, and cocktails.
