Gordon Kemp was a detective working in the cold case unit. He's given a case over 80 years old. It involves a space expedition that was sent out 80 years ago and exploded. Now he finds out not only did it not explode but they had a quantum wormhole in the space ship and it had reached a new planet. Gordon was being sent to investigate the murder.

Wormhole is mainly set in 2190. Eighty years earlier, a spaceship was launched to a planet 50 light-years away called Carrasco, orbiting the star Mu Arae. On board are crew members, put in suspended animation until they arrive. The ship also secretly carries new technology to create “the other end” of a wormhole which will allow future journeys between Earth and Carrasco to be completed in the blink of an eye. But a few years after its launch, the ship explodes. Eighty years later Inspector Gordon Kemp is assigned to a cold case related to it. It turns out that the explosion was staged and that the ship recently arrived at Carrasco in good condition. However, on board is Rima Cagnac, widow of Sebastian White, murdered eighty years ago, and she is the prime suspect. Kemp will be sent through the wormhole to Carrasco to arrest her. His partner Danni Bellini is staying on Earth to further investigate the matter there. Together they discover a different truth.

Although the story is set in the future, the atmosphere of classic whodunits seeps through right away. Kemp’s attitude and his job as a cold-case investigator remind readers of that slightly melancholic and penniless Humphrey Bogart style private detective who lives in a dusty office. Kemp isn't completely the same type of character, but it probably gets as close as is possible at the end of the 22nd century. His partner Bellini takes on the role of an ambitious young lady who keeps Kemp with one foot in the modern world. This results in a novel that starts quietly and that steadily builds on a solid foundation without really spectacular things happening.

After about one third, the story splits into two parts, with Bellini on Earth continuing to dig into the case through old-fashioned detective work, aided by whizzkid Martin who can hack just about anything that is hackable. Kemp starts his research on Carrasco, and we get to see some of the alien Carrascan environment through the eyes of Rima. The story doesn’t contain anything that is really new in science fiction. It’s of good old fashioned quality and evolves towards a whodunit and whydunit in one, with much focus on unravelling the plot, and with characters being secondary to this. As a consequence, they are not developed too deeply. Character background information is often presented almost as a side note and further ignored. Nothing suggests this is going to be more than a standalone. Nevertheless there is potential to make Kemp and Bellini recurring characters. Some things about the main characters that were not worked out are interesting enough to elaborate on. There were also several story backgrounds that were started but never further explored.

Page after page Wormhole increasingly turns into a pleasant and decent space detective that is easy to follow and that culminates in an original and attractive denouement. It will not change the future of scrience fiction, but it's simply fun to read. I wouldn’t mind seeing this turned into a series with a few more novels.

Wormhole just maybe one of the best science fiction books I’ve read in a good while. A phenomenal melding of SF, crime, and politics, it made for one unforgettable read.

Gordon Kemp is a tired and frustrated detective in a future London, transferred from Homicide to work cold cases. He’s inextricably assigned to an eighty year old murder case, and is told to travel via a newly established wormhole and arrest Rima, who’s suspected of killing her husband just prior to leaving on a colony ship for a. new planet. Of course, all is not as it seems, and what follows is an entertaining and crazy adventure, full of twists and turns and surprises.

The world building of Wormhole was excellent. The characters are all well developed and the writing is outstanding. For a book that’s jointly written by two authors, the writing styles were seamless.

I just loved this book, and can’t recommend it enough!

My thanks to Angry Robot and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of this fabulous novel.

Wow, I haven’t enjoyed a sci-if book so much years, maybe decades! I’m buzzing! A hard SF/crime crossover, this book ticks all my boxes for a fantastic read. Fabulous tech, a truly alien world and a murder to solve — what more could you ask for!?! Everything about this book was well written. No fantasy, no weapons obsessed action heroes, no aliens in search of earth women, in other words, no dreck. Just solid characters, a great plot and believable science. Now, I’m going to find all the other books written by these two authors. What a find!! Thanks NetGalley for an opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review. Highly recommend