Audiobook Review: Dorothy Gentleman #1

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

Read by Blair Baker

Published: March 2025

Summary from NetGalley:

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…

Confession:

This was a very enjoyable cozy mystery with a science fiction setting. My only complaint was that it was way too short! I hardly ever say that, but it is very true here. Coming in at only slightly over 100 pages, or two hours of listening, this was more of a short story than a novella. But there was a lot packed into those pages with interesting characters and story.

I really liked Dorothy as a detective. We don’t get to know her very well as a person, but she struck me as a very no nonsense kind of person. She is an older protagonist, who has lived many lives through the ship’s ability to regenerate a new body for her when the old one wears out. I find it interesting that they have this ability, but yet can’t seem to cure simple body ailments such as arthritis. She likes to knit and seems to have a very nice life on this ship. I also very much enjoyed her nephew and his partner, (sorry their names are escaping me at the moment, and I look forward to seeing them in the next books).The nephew is one of the architects/engineers of the ship and provided much needed information about it. His partner was almost a Watson type character to Dorothy’s Holmes.

The world building is pretty good considering the length of the novella. We pretty much get just enough information about the ship and the memory books in order to solve the mystery. I am hoping that much more world building will happen in the next books. The pacing is good, with the story moves along quite nicely. I enjoyed the sort of mixture of the futuristic ship with an old fashioned style. If you’re not quite sure what I mean by that take a look at the covers of the books, and you will see what I mean.

I enjoyed this one, but I would have loved it more if it was just a little bit longer. It needs just a tiny bit more world building to make it a fantastic read. Still I will continue the series as I am very intrigued by the ship and the characters. Recommend this one to anyone who needs a quick cozy mystery with a futuristic setting.