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A review by toosharpbyhalf
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
5.0
Rich, disabled Tesla and her handsome ex-investigator husband Shal are in a space cruise for their honeymoon under assumed identities when it all goes wrong. Shal is framed for murder and the ship's police think it's open and shut.
Billed as The Thin Man in space this is way more emotionally grueling than that implies because the couple aren't just dabbling in a bit of private investigating, they are accused of murder and only end up investigating to clear themselves. There's a threat to them all the way through the book.
It's definitely a page turner, full of vivid people, with a diverse range of genders and identities, very much a world where gender binary isn't the assumed norm. Tesla is a wonderful lead, an inventor who suffers chronic pain from a spinal injury which she has to dial down with a deep brain device that numbs her sense of touch. She has an absolutely adorable Westie service dog which thinks it is the centre of the universe (mainly because it is).
In summary, a very satisfying read.
[This is a murder mystery not a romance so although the newly married couple are all over each other throughout the book there's no actual hanky panky. I didn't expect any, but just so you know!]
Billed as The Thin Man in space this is way more emotionally grueling than that implies because the couple aren't just dabbling in a bit of private investigating, they are accused of murder and only end up investigating to clear themselves. There's a threat to them all the way through the book.
It's definitely a page turner, full of vivid people, with a diverse range of genders and identities, very much a world where gender binary isn't the assumed norm. Tesla is a wonderful lead, an inventor who suffers chronic pain from a spinal injury which she has to dial down with a deep brain device that numbs her sense of touch. She has an absolutely adorable Westie service dog which thinks it is the centre of the universe (mainly because it is).
In summary, a very satisfying read.
[This is a murder mystery not a romance so although the newly married couple are all over each other throughout the book there's no actual hanky panky. I didn't expect any, but just so you know!]