A review by katieinca
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

4.0

I may have seen The Thin Man once twenty years ago, but I have passing familiarity with Nick and Nora Charles just from general cultural absorption, and as "Nick and Nora but on a space cruise in the future," this works for me. The mystery plot/reveal was kind of nutty, but I can handle that in a noir homage. I had a harder time managing the way the protagonist puts herself through the ringer physically, but it didn't stop us from staying up for "oh, just one more chapter" a few times.
The cocktail recipes at the beginning of each chapter also work for me, and we even tried a couple of the ones we hadn't heard of because they sounded fun. She includes some "zero proof" cocktails too, but we didn't try those.