Caffeinated Reviewer

Sophia Rose is here with a review of first audiobook in the Dorothy Gentleman sci-fi cozy mystery series. Narrated by Blair Baker, Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite takes listeners aboard a human colony ship set in the future. Come check out her thoughts…

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...

Sophia Rose Reviews

When she wakes up in someone else’s body, a colony ship’s investigator knows its time to come out of retirement.  Olivia Waite’s sci-fi cozy mystery series caught my attention when this book first released and I just knew it was going to be a treat.

Murder by Memory is the first in the Dorothy Gentleman sci-fi cozy mystery series set aboard a human colony ship in the future.  The listener gets dropped into the story at first and learns that in the future aboard this ship now hundreds of years away from old Earth, a copy of people’s memories can be stored in what they call the library.  People can be centuries old because they use a body until it ‘dies’ and then their mind is copied into a new young body not unlike a clone of their previous body.  Each person aboard the ship uses their skill set to do a job.

Dorothy Gentleman never expected to be woken and she is shocked when she comes alert in another person’s body.  An electrical storm in space has made the ship’s AI act like a person on a drunken bender and unable to explain the situation other than an emergency happened and Dorothy’s memory would have been deleted permanently if the ship hadn’t overridden protocol and dumped her mind into the nearest available body.

Dorothy is a veteran investigator who chose for painful personal reasons to not come back in a new body, but she wakes up years from her last time of being awake.  Things would change and did, but some things are hard and fast laws that shouldn’t be messed with.  She suspects that the body she inhabits was up to something illegal if not murderous since the woman was the only one roaming about during the electrical storm when everyone else was sealed in their cabins for safety.  And, there are the odd bits of evidence Dorothy accumulates as she encounters places and the people known to her borrowed body.

Dorothy consults with her trouble-magnet nephew Ruthie, who is her only remaining relative and a brilliant technician for the ship’s library and memory system and his enigmatic new partner, a gifted bartender who concocts unique ‘memory’ drinks for the ship’s exclusive club of intellectuals.  She follows the evidence to a shocking reveal of who and why someone tried to murder memories.

Blair Baker was a fabulous narrator and this was my first time hearing her work.  I hope she continues to narrate the series and I wouldn’t mind coming across more of her work.

Murder by Memory is a fast listen/read, but it was fabulous.  I appreciate the intriguing worldbuilding of this futuristic setting, but also the curious mystery plot and the engaging, detailed characters.  I am so glad this is a series and I look forward to the next entry. This is for the crowd who appreciate a blend of sci-fi and mystery with lots of character diversity.

Amazon* | Audible | Libro.fm

*Available in KindleUnlimited

About Olivia Waite

Olivia Waite writes historical romance, fantasy, and science fiction. She is the romance fiction columnist for the New York Times Book Review.

Website

About Blair Baker

Blair Baker is a queer, activist, feminist storyteller passionate about making and being involved with work that represents the under represented.

Instagram

About Sophia Rose

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

Goodreads

About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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