A gentle charmer of an SF mystery that surprises as it satisfies.
A detective aboard an interstellar ship where all childbearing is on indefinite hold gets drawn into a case involving an infant mysteriously left at her nephew’s door.
The last thing Dorothy Gentleman expected is involvement in a child abandonment case. Before departing Earth, all 10,000 passengers aboard the spaceship Fairweather underwent a procedure to pause their reproductive abilities. Now, centuries later, Dorothy’s gay nephew, Ruthie, and his husband, John, inexplicably find a baby outside their cabin. They all want answers, but Dorothy in particular wants to protect the child from her starchy rules-and-regulations colleague, Leloup, who sees the infant as “a disaster for civil disorder and general calm.” If Leloup has his way, the baby will be unable to download memories into a memory-book before death and then upload them into a new body. This second installment of Waite’s Dorothy Gentleman cozy mystery-in-space series will delight readers with quirky characters, wry dialogue, and a puzzle-like plot reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple books. Dorothy eventually locates the mother, who’s been newly incarnated and who, oddly enough, has no memory of giving birth. It quickly becomes clear that the child’s right to preserve his memories for future incarnations isn’t the only issue at stake. Someone with motives Dorothy is determined to discover wanted the old incarnation of the baby’s mother dead. Waite’s imaginative merging of futuristic settings and technologies with elements of the classic whodunit is only part of what makes this novel so successful. Her handling of themes like memory, love, and the bonds that create a family add a level of quiet poignancy that makes Waite’s book both entertaining and meaningful.
A gentle charmer of an SF mystery that surprises as it satisfies.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781250342263
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Tordotcom
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A cleverly titled, cozy SF romance that marks Thorne as a writer to watch.
After purchasing a dilapidated, century-old starship called the Destitute, Torian Razner discovers that the moss covering it is, in fact, a deeply sarcastic sentient computer with abandonment issues.
Torian’s sister, Celise, is dying. Determined to save her life by getting her to a distant planet with air she can breathe, Torian ignores her former captain Amelia Perrosk’s warning that it’s an impossible task (along with any romantic feelings she might have for Amelia). Using the only ionite bars she has to her name, Torian purchases an ancient, moss-covered alien starship that appears to be on its last legs, so to speak. She hardly expected the moss to be a sentient computer or for it to hold a century-old grudge against its former alien captain. Moss quickly proves itself to be acerbic, intelligent, and rightly angry after being having been left behind for 100 years by its former captain. The two form a reluctant and surprising alliance, Torian proving to Moss that not all captains are “dog-turd fungus,” and they both gradually evolve into the best versions of themselves, human or otherwise. It’s obvious from the early pages that Thorne has crafted a story tailored to fans of Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series and Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries. Falling somewhere between the two, this is a delightful mashup of romance, found family, and a touch of violence as Moss grapples with its feelings about its former captain and the unexpected kindness that Torian shows. Sweet without being overly saccharine, it’s a book for readers who want the adventure that comes with the vastness of outer space without its harsher realities.
A cleverly titled, cozy SF romance that marks Thorne as a writer to watch.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414144
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Bramble Books
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
The lavish food descriptions and appended recipes are the best parts of this anemic mystery.
Christmas is coming, but so is trouble for South Lick, Indiana.
Robbie Jordan, owner and chief cook at Pans ’N Pancakes, returns from solving a murder in California just in time for the holiday rush, which is complicated more than most Christmastimes by a number of surprises that disrupt her circle of friends. First, her assistant, Danna Beedle, gets a visit from Marcus Vandemere, a young biracial man claiming to be her half brother, an assertion that thrills Danna despite the doubts of some friends and relatives. Next comes a fire that nearly destroys the home of anesthesiologist Dr. William Geller, a racist whose wife, Tina, reportedly left him years ago. When a skeleton turns up in the attic, the not-so-esteemed doctor has some explaining to do. Robbie’s nemesis, Detective Octavia Slade, who recently married Robbie’s former boyfriend, is more willing than usual to accept help from Robbie, who has a knack for finding things out. The next to die is Tina’s twin, Toni, who knew Marcus from karate classes. Toni’s husband is the prime suspect, but Robbie’s convinced the fatalities are connected. With help from her boyfriend and her network of friends, she attempts to clear things up before the killer spoils her holiday by adding her to his list.
The lavish food descriptions and appended recipes are the best parts of this anemic mystery.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2317-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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