I should have really liked this novel as I enjoy foody books, programmes etc and sci fi novels. It seemed to be a dream combination, however, I found it difficult to get interested in the story, then became confused about who was who and finally lost interest altogether and skipped lots of it. On the plus side this author has a great imagination and some very interesting concepts for the future, but for me, if it was a little less complicated and had a more simple story line I might have really enjoyed it. Alternatively I may just be the wrong demographic for this style of writing.

This book was a very good read! I liked the characters and their personalities and even how Molly was trying to connect the dots by talking to her staff in figuring out the mystery. I do like how this depiction of how Mars would be terra formed since one of my fave podcasts has been talking about that subject lately.

It's puny and funny and out there in space! I laughed a good bit with this witty and cute read. Murder and mystery mix with Mars. How can you resist that? I couldn't! It's a comedy that I actually enjoyed.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

If you're at all familiar with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, you'll understand me when I say that the world desperately needs another book like it. The wry humor, random and rampant world-building, the characters with awesome names (Zaphod Beeblebrox? Ford Prefect?) and even more awesome personalities all make for a romp of read. I recently read a book—Sherlock Mars by Jackie Kingon—that was similar, and, while I enjoyed it, wished it could have better filled the huge shoes left by its predecessor.

And truly, the Hitchhiker's Guide, may be the only one of its genre (a very small, niche one) to grow such big "shoes." It was originally a radio comedy on BBC Radio in 1978, but was later adapted to other formats, including stage shows, novels, comic books, a 1981 TV series, a 1984 computer game, and a 2005 feature film.  A prominent series in British popular culture, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has become an international multi-media phenomenon; the novels are the most widely distributed, having been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005.

What Sherlock Mars Is About

"Fine dining, virtual reality, and murder," proclaims the front cover. Molly Marbles, the main character, runs a successful restaurant on a terra-formed Mars. When a virtual restaurant opens next door, offering the experience of delicacies with none of the calories, she's worried about what it will do to her business at first, but then finds that it's quite a boon. But then, when the virtual restaurant’s owner is murdered in her kitchen, Molly, amateur detective, cranks into high gear to help the police solve the mystery. While doing that, she also helps plan her pop-star diva daughter’s wedding, keeps her kitchen staff from feuding, and protects her android friend from the humans-only mob. And tries to figure out if the infamous Cereal Serial Killer, who has escaped from prison, has anything to do with anything.

What I Liked About Sherlock Mars

Sometimes it's really good to read a book that doesn't take itself too seriously or that even successfully pulls off a joke, pun, or sarcastic comment. For that alone, I enjoyed Sherlock Mars. Consider, for example, this line: "Before I knew him, Trenton had crashed his Porsche-Aquila XXX racing car...and most of his body was destroyed. When he was offered the choice of being a brain in a bottle or becoming the first human android, Trenton chose android and said the choice was a no brainer."

What Could Have Been Improved

The writing could have been less stilted or awkward, in places. Take this sentence for example: "'I'm sorry,' a clipped voice that I can't tell whether it's a person or a program says, 'we have no Sol Brody listed.'" It would have been stronger if it had been worded more like this: "I'm sorry," says a clipped voice that sounds both mechanical and human. 'We have no Sol Brody listed."
It also could have been edited just a little more. Take this line: "I want see what they did and if I can learn more about Rick." There's obviously a "to" missing between "want" and "see." Not that most people would care about this, but there are enough of those kinds of mistakes that it becomes a distraction.
If the plot I described above sounds a bit random, that's because it is. To a certain extent it's okay, as long as the central mystery or conflict is kept present enough in each scene to justify its presence. But I found that some scenes just tended to be "fluff," not really related to the plot but just there for the fun of it.
Who Would Like Sherlock Mars?

Obviously, anyone who likes anything by Douglas Adams should probably buy this book. More probably, though, anyone who likes Terry Pratchett's Discworld series would love Sherlock Mars. Pratchett was the U.K.'s best-selling author before J.K. Rowling.

Actually rather tiresome. The humor is rather one-note, and the heroine does not come off as a brilliant Sherlockesque character.

The description of this book as a cross between Agatha Christie and Douglas Adams is an apt one. The problem is, that like the beams on the Ghostbusters' unlicensed, nuclear-accelerated lasers, I'm not sure they should be crossed. Murder Mystery is good. Zany stream of consciousness sci-fi is good. The two don't quite mesh sadly. Good effort at trying to be bold, however.

Not so elementary, my dear. An out of this world comedic cozy mystery with a so many things going on that I got Lost in Space. Fun book but at times confusing.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Restauranteur Molly Marbles plans a wedding and eats various foods while half-heartedly investigating a murder in this overly-light and poorly-written sci-fi mystery.

This book managed to be both overcomplex and oversimplistic at the same time thanks to a massive cast of characters that are never described or expounded upon in any way (the main character used to be overweight and now isn't, and a number of other characters are androids. These are the only physical descriptions I could give you about any of the characters). Plot points are brought up and then resolved seemingly willy-nilly, with no attempt to tie them into any greater narrative. A serial killer is introduced early in the story who is never a menacing threat and then <spoiler>is captured "off-screen"</spoiler> without them ever entering the greater narrative. The author seems to have Jasper Fforde's love for puns and simple wordplay while naming people ("Beverly Hills", "Holly Wood", and "Burton Ernie" are all actual names of characters) but not Fforde's ability to develop a character or maintain a plot thread. The worldbuilding of a spacefaring society is akin to that of Disney Channel Original Movie "Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century" in that most things are named the same as things that we have today with the word "space" or "star" or "lunar" in front of them, yet it did not seem that this book was aimed at a younger audience. Fans of even soft sci-fi will be disappointed at the lack of development of the setting, and fans of even light mysteries will be disappointed at the lack of any real intrigue or plot. The writing style is clipped and disjointed, and the only real detail is given to describing food.

I can't recommend this even as a light summer read.

I was intrigued by the book blurb. How fun to have a sci-fi murder mystery. Well, in a way it was fun, but very complicated. You've got about 4 storylines rolling along in this book and it's difficult to keep up with each one. My favorite was the prejudice problem with androids and humans. It could have been the mystery -- but that got lost in all the puns and wedding and wondering who was who.

This would have made several good books if the storylines had been separated, but then the characters weren't developed very well so the storyline would be the only thing holding it all together. Perhaps, it would have helped if I had read the first one? But if it was just like this one, I doubt I'd spend the time just to sort it all out.

Thanks to the author and Netgalley for access to the book to read in exchange for an honest review.

This is a review of an ARC from NetGalley

Mars restaurant owner Molly Marbles ends up mixed up in murder after the manager of the new Virtual restaurant next door is poisoned at her party. Add in a Cereal Serial Killer, android hunting mobs, and her pop-star daughter's wedding and you have what the author thinks is a light-hearted sci-fi romp.

Oof. The author is going for Douglas Adams hijinks and sci-fi fun and just, no. Bad puns abound, all the characters have wink-wink-get-it joke names (i.e married couple Jersey and Trenton). Normally I would say "You will like this, if this is the sort of thing you like." But this IS the sort of thing I like, and I didn't like it. I see what she was going for, I just don't think she got there.

This book was a mixture of good and bad. The good: The author combined the cozy mystery with SciFi. The settings were creative. The characters were unique especially the enhanced humans. The puns reminded me of the Xanth series.
The bad: Too wordy. Too many settings with technobabble names that caused the plot to bog down for me. Some of the humor seemed to be veiled attacks on the Bible and Talmud that I found to be unnecessary and borderline offensive. I didn't appreciate the author's obsession with weight and/or making light of obesity.
Overall, a worthy effort.

Suburb take on a classic! Mystery is my favorite genre at the moment and this book did justice!

Mollie Marbles is at first concerned when Virtual Vittles, a virtual restaurant is opening right next to her bistro on Mars. However, the thing about virtual food – it may be delicious but not particularly filling and, after virtually ‘eating’ at the VV, the patrons immediately rush over to Mollie’s Bistro to actually eat. So Mollie and Rick, the owner of VV decide to band together not only for their mutual benefit but to keep out McMoon’s, a fast food joint from moving into the neighbourhood. However, on their first joint venture, Rick dies after eating one of Mollie’s desserts. Mollie has experience in crime detection and soon becomes involved in the investigation. However, she may have more on her plate (okay, bad pun but puns are rampant in this book) than she can handle including planning her daughter’s wedding to - wait for it - Burton Ernie and the escape of the Cereal serial killer.

Sherlock Mars by author Jackie Kingon is a combination of scifi, cozy mystery, and humour which, as I may have mentioned, is mainly of the punning variety especially with names. Unfortunately, my sense of humour tends to satire and, yes, sarcasm and I did find all of those puns somewhat tiresome after a while. Still, Mollie is a likeable protagonist, the mystery was interesting and, if I didn’t always appreciate the humour, I have no doubt it will appeal to people who are, shall we say, less curmudgeonly. Overall, if I didn’t fully appreciate the humour of Sherlock Mars, I did enjoy the mystery and would recommend it for anyone who appreciates something a little different.

Thanks to Netgalley and Cameron Publicity for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

A light, summer, beach read that mixes outer space with whodunnit, and humor.

This story is about how Molly, a chef of a popular restaurant on terra-formed Mars investigates the death of a patron, alongside friendly police (that aren't quite up to the mental CPU speed of Molly). Molly has experience in this; it's her second time around solving a murder case. (Though this novel isn't a sequel, it involves some characters from Chocolate, Chocolate Moons, a prior book by the author. It's clearly not a problem to have not read the first book.)

This book is notable for ... puns. A couple gets married; the official married name: Mr. Burton Ernie. Neah, neah, neah. Names for people, food & places all harken to *something* you know; you just need to identify it.

The story is pretty light-hearted, as is the plot line. Nothing serious here; you'll blow through it quickly, rolling your eyes (nay, "spinning" them?) frequently. This isn't designed to be a novel you talk to your friends about because of it's deep ideas & concepts - though, to her credit, the author thinks up some pretty fun sci-fi ideas, like "virtual eating". (Ya gotta read it....)

All in all, if you're up for a serious, interstellar war between planet-sized AIs and multiple races around the galaxy,, this won't be a book you'll want. But if you're hungry (food), want to read some interesting-sounding dish names, and wade through a set of clues - all discarded - until the bad guy is caught, then this is your book for the summer.

You are way overselling with Douglas Adams meets Agatha Christie! Maybe had I not seen that, maybe, but this is very juvenile and not particularly well written.

I really wanted to like this, but there is just no point to the whole thing. The story has way too much going on and it isn't all resolved. Molly doesn't actually solve the crime, she just listens while the police interrogate the killer. Then, along with many other lists, we are told that the killer isn't punished. I have no idea why.

This was a silly quirky sci-fi mystery. The characters weren't super deep, but the names, "historical" references, and technologies were a lot of fun and really caught my imagination.

Molly owns a restaurant, and the owner of the virtual restaurant next door is killed in her kitchen during a joint event. Molly investigates this while running her restaurant and planning her daughter's high-profile wedding. The wedding was probably my favorite part of the book :). There is also some tension between androids and humans. Anyway - tons of clever references made this an enjoyable book to read.

I received a eARC from the publisher through Netgalley.
I got about halfway through before giving up. I thought the writing was quite choppy, really not much better than my reviews, ha. Some of the concepts were interesting but there was absolutely no hook there for me. Might be good for others who are mystery fans, just not a good choice for me.

So, so many good ideas.
Too, too many good ideas.
Jackie Klingon has a very strong vision of her comic future Mars colony with its misinterpreted, almost chinese whispers, version of human history. She delivers some great themes about human relations and identity and there is a murder mystery.
My problem with the book is that there was too much for one book so one thread (such as an expensive wedding or a cereal eating contest) could easily distract from another causing me to lose track. This meant the central murder plot occasionally went missing and the denouement of that felt somewhat perfunctory.
I hope that Klingon finds a good editor because there was enough for at least two books here and she clearly has a lot to say

I loved the concept of this book. It was an enjoyable read and I thoroughly enjoyed the setting and plot.