The Spare Man

"The Spare Man" started like a light murder mystery with a science fiction backdrop and somewhat unlikely characters, but slowly builds to a really interesting conundrum that I found surprisingly engaging.

The plot is engaging and the reason for the title is a brilliantly novel twist that I found delightful.

The main characters Tesla Crane and her husband Shal are not especially relatable characters. Typically, the the investigator is an outsider who provides a way for the reader to peek into the extravagant world of the wealthy. So casting one of these privileged, wealthy, celebrities as the protagonist and investigator does make the reading a little less pleasant as we have to deal with annoying elitist opinions and lapdogs... though the former are probably just to show her sheltered life, and the latter becomes a plot point. As the story evolves, this becomes less annoying and Tesla has access that Columbo could never dream of, thus providing the reader with insights that might otherwise be hard to get.

The quirk of naming each chapter after a cocktail was delightful. I don't even drink, but found it interesting, especially since the author managed to make (most of) the drinks relevant to the content of the chapter. Also, I learned a few things from this unlikely devices and found my self looking up the history of some of these drinks and that was before I read the interesting "About the Cocktails" addendum.

The Hard science fiction genre demands a lot from a novel, and this is clearly not aimed at that genre, but Mary Robinette Kowal @maryrobinette@wandering.shop, does not cut scientific corners and did a great job of keeping the story somewhat plausible, even if the economics of space cruise ships never works out. I really love that there's a schematic of the ship right front and that both the layout of the ship and the physics of the coriolis effect are important to the story. I can count the number of novels I've read over 50 years of reading sci-fi that have a diagram of the ship on one hand. So great job Mary Robinette Kowal! The "About the Science" addendum to the book is also appreciated.

One correlation that I didn't expect was that Hulu's Death and Other Details had a similar feel. The Spare Man wasn't as intense and Tesla Crane drove the story more, rather than being mentored like Imogene Scott was in Death and Other Details, but it did have that murder on a ship with a modern setting and really smart female lead.

Note: This book is DRM free, which I really appreciate, as I don't buy anything else these days.

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.)