Three Space Mysteries: Reviews of The Midsolar Murders and The Spare Man
I apparently really miss Poirot, so I have been reading murder mysteries set in space. I finished the first two entries in Mur Lafferty’s Midsolar Murders and The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. All were enjoyable, but the Spare Man felt somewhat odd to me.
The Midsolar Murders (Station Eternity is the first book and Chaos Terminal is the second) are about a young women that murder follows around. Everywhere she goes, someone dies. Fortunately for her, she is very good at solving murders, so she isn’t arrested as the obvious serial killer that she and other fictional detectives often appear to be (seriously, how does Jessica Fletcher remain free considering how many people are murdered in Cabot Cove?). In order to escape her curse, she goes to an alien space station. Since she is one of only three humans on board, murder should not be a problem. Of course, other humans soon follow as first contact expands into normal relationships and the readers get two solid murder mysteries.
The books are fun reads, with clean styling and solid mysteries. I didn’t figure them out (not much of a surprise — I hardly ever do) but the results never felt like a cheat. The characters are a nice mix of alien outlooks, realistically flawed humans, and the interplay between the various characters, human or otherwise, is a highlight of the books. The main characters curse and problem-solving skills are explained in a way that is interesting and ties into the excellent alien worldbuilding. If you like mysteries and/or thoughtful characters, then I would recommend picking these up.
The Spare Man, on the other hand, is going to depend on how much Elon Musk you can tolerate. The mystery is solid, the setting is a neat little cruise ship between Earth and Mars, the society is well developed (no aliens here, just people born on Earth, Mars or the Moon and a nice look at how gender constructs could evolve out of our current state), and the mystery was mostly satisfying. I say mostly because one aspect of how they killer pulled it off seems a bit too pat, but it doesn’t entirely ruin the otherwise well put together plot. The main character, however, is a bit hard to take.
I think the main character is supposed to be a good Elon Musk. She is a super genius, galactically famous (her fame is a plot point on more than one occasion), and filthy rich. She is also struggling with PTSD and physical problems stemming from an accident. I think those facts are supposed to make her sympathetic, but here is where the book goes a bit sideways for me.
It seems clear from the text that the accident was her fault — and six people died because of it. Yet no one seems to really hold her to account or properly blame her. Her spouse is the initial red-herring suspect (all good murder mysteries need a red-herring suspect), and while it is understandable that she believes him, the text makes him look pretty guilty at least for a bit. Yet she uses her wealth and power to free him. Similarly, she uses her wealth and power to browbeat and bully staff and security personal who are just doing their jobs. And while there is one mention of her abusing her power, the text of the book has the person who most stringy oppose that abuse be clearly incompetent and fired by the end of the story. This, despite the fact that her actions made it harder to solve the crime and, in fact, almost let the criminal escape. Basically, the main character is written as an over-privileged twit whose incompetence likely killed six friends — that we are also supposed to think is absolutely correct in all her dealings during the murder mystery.
It is a weird dichotomy, and I cannot figure out if we are supposed to find her as annoying as I did, if this is just my own personal dislike for rich bullies influencing my reading, or if Kowal is setting up an extended arc/commentary around the main character’s obliviousness/bullying for future books. The books are well written, and despite my emphasis on the bad of the character, the main character has plenty of redeeming qualities, so riding along with her is not a terrible time all the time. I will likely give a second book, if it appears, a try, to see if this character goes in an interesting direction or remains a candidate for the Upper-Class Twit of the Year award.
To summarize: Midsolar Murders go out and buy. The Spare Man, tentatively go buy depending on how much you can tolerate and frustrating, annoyingly privileged main character. Both are fun mysteries that do not cheat, and both are well written.