A very charming, fun little novella - Miss Marple in space, with some gently winking nods to the Golden Age of detective fiction despite the thoroughly futuristic, sci fi tech that both underlies and decorates the plot. The idea of how death and murder work in a world in which death of the body is not necessarily permanent death of the consciousness is a particularly interesting element to introduce to the whodunnit genre. I do hope this becomes a series, I'd happily read any more Dorothy Gentleman stories to come!

Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Easily one of the best books I’ve read in the last year. Immerses you completely and effortlessly in this brand new world, with deft use of an utterly charming and loveable heroine. I hope we get a hundred of them.

Review was in the March 2025 issue of SFRevu.com

Olivia Waite's Murder by Memory is a straight-up police procedural murder mystery with a science fictional twist. Dorothy Gentleman is woken from her rest to find herself in an elevator and, more distressingly, in someone else's body. This rather shocking beginning sets readers up for an interesting and intriguing, journey to find a killer on an interstellar passenger ship, the HMS Fairweather.

Basically Fairweather is a generational ship that has already been on its journey for three centuries. The difference is that the people aboard do not have children to deserve the term generation ship. Passengers live 'til they die and then are given a new body with all the memories of the previous body. This becomes an important issue from the beginning as the murder of a passenger was followed up by the destruction of their memory backup. Thus the deceased can not be revived.

Dorothy, a Ship Detective, was awakened from her rest to find the murderer and determine how the Memory Library Archive was breached and the backups destroyed. Since the story is from Dorothy's point of view, readers know what she does as she interviews passengers and crew to solve the crime. In the process, we learn more about the ship, its passengers, social structure, environment, and how the legal system is applied when crimes arise.

There were some surprising twists to the investigation I didn't expect. The world building of this small community was incredibly believable in the context of the story. The story had a very different way of handling voyages that could take thousands of years.

Murder by Memory was a complex and satisfying mystery while also giving readers an interesting twist on a science fiction genre trope.

Imagine waking up in the wrong body, on a spaceship where death is usually just a minor inconvenience — only to find out someone has figured out how to make it permanent. That’s the setup for Seattle author Olivia Waite’s novella, “Murder by Memory” (Tordotcom, $21.99), a delightfully oddball mix of cozy mystery and sci-fi, where the biggest crime isn’t just murder — it’s erasing minds from existence.

Dorothy Gentleman, the ship’s detective and certified no-nonsense auntie, is the kind of investigator who gets things done with a sharp eye and sharper wit. She’s not exactly thrilled to be thrust into a case mid-body swap. Still, when someone starts tampering with the ship’s supposedly indestructible memory archives, she dusts off her detective hat (metaphorically speaking — though I wouldn’t put it past her to own one).

The real star of “Murder by Memory” is its imaginative world-building: cocktails made from memories, a possibly tipsy sentient ship and a society where true love means sharing a memory shelf. The mystery itself is intriguing, if not the most twisty, but the charm of the setting and Dorothy’s dry humor make up for it.

A little Miss Marple in space, a little “Black Mirror” but make it comfy, “Murder by Memory” is a quirky, clever and thoroughly enjoyable read. Maybe stay away from the memory cocktails, though, if you’re prone to bad decisions.

Super thankful for Tor for this eArc! I had read Olivia Waite for my Queer Bridgerton post last Summer, and her work was my favorite part of that project, for sure! I was happy to return to her flowy, cozy writing style, this time with a new twist.

This is a sci-fi set in a far-future spaceship where humans have achieved a strange type of immortality, by backing up their memories and uploading them into new bodies. This novella follows Dorothy, the ship's equivalent of a detective, when she's unexpectedly brought back to life, in a body she doesn't recognize, and smack in the middle of a murder case!

This was fun! It is definitely what it's pitched as -- a cozy mystery with a Becky Chambers twist. The writing style and the characters are very enjoyable, and I love the worldbuilding. But, as I often feel with mystery novellas, I think I needed some more time with this case. It goes by quickly and the resolution comes in too abruptly. But the ending seems to point to a sequel, which I would not be opposed to!

Also props to Olivia Waite for inserting some fiber arts in here. I see you doing it in all your books and I respect the hustle.

DNF @ 60%

A cozy read, just not the read for me. The author spent a little too much time world-building (and what a world it was) and it felt like the plot was almost secondary to all the quirky sci-fi stuff happening. Great for readers who want to feel immersed in a world where the stakes feel incredibly low (which is saying something, considering it's a story about a murder). I think that if you love those older detective soaps (think Murder, She Wrote with a little more whimsy), you'd love this.

(Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC. All opinions are my own.)

This was such an interesting story. It’s a mystery but veers into science fiction. It’s a quick book but intriguing from start to finish.

I'm picky about my novellas, especially a mystery that has to be wrapped up in so few pages, but Olivia Waite's new series is really fitting the bill of quality content. The world-building was subtle but clear, and the mystery was fun and kept me guessing.

3.5/5!

Is science fiction cozy mystery a genre I didn’t know I needed in my life? Absolutely!

I love that our main character, Dorothy, is older. It instantly gave me Miss Marple and Killers of a Certain Age vibes. Dorothy is quirky and getting to know her, but also getting to know her as her memory is found implanted in a much younger body was very entertaining.

This novella is a mix of genres that I think will work for fans of both science fiction and mysteries. The science isn’t hard to grasp and while the mystery drives the plot, it doesn’t steal the show from this story creating the basis for what seems like a great series.

Heat Factor: Not even a kiss

Character Chemistry: Hints that there might be a relationship in the future

Plot: Dorothy wakes up in someone else’s body and then has a murder to solve

Overall: As a series teaser, this book succeeds admirably

When I say this book succeeds as a series teaser, here’s what I mean: we get a good sense of the atmosphere, setting, and characters. There’s a bit of a tease with a potential love interest slash antagonist (that last scene was giving me strong Sherlock / Moriarty vibes). Obviously, humans are gonna human, so there will always be a need for detectives—especially with the hint of things being not quite above board at the secret society speakeasy. But the mystery itself felt a little thin. Dorothy learns new information in a nice sequential order, which allows her to put the pieces of the story together. The twists were a bit twisty, but nothing was revealed that felt like a big shock.

In short, this felt like a taste of more to come than a fully standalone story.

So let’s talk about that taste. This book is marketed as a cozy mystery in space, and I have to be honest: I don’t read a lot of cozies. They are just too twee with their punny titles and their amateur detectives who own thriving small businesses in small towns. But I do read sci fi (with a special affinity for lesbians in space, which this is) and I have enjoyed Waite’s other books (all historical romances, so that’s a bit different) and I like a good mystery every now and again, so I went for it. I give this background about my reading habits because some of my quibbles about the execution of the mystery might come down to my lack of familiarity with the cozy, which I guess tends to be a little less twisty than the psychological thrillers I generally turn to when I am in a murder mood.

Dorothy lives on a spaceship, and has now for several hundred years. Humans now have technology to download their minds into “books,” and reprint their consciousness into a new body when the old one wears out. In the meantime, they are living a lovely utopian fantasy on board the spacecraft while waiting to finally make it to another planet. Dorothy has been in storage for a few years for various personal reasons, until one day she wakes up—in someone else’s body. And if this weren’t enough, the ship’s AI needs her to go solve a murder. And, uh, the person whose body she took may have been involved in said murder.

Dorothy then spends the book wandering around the spaceship and talking to various people—sometimes as herself, sometimes pretending to be the woman whose body she’s inhabiting—while she pieces together the relationship between said body and the corpse. There are also several scenes between Dorothy and her nephew that serve to establish the parameters of the world and open it up more broadly to future stories. The wandering and the bit with the nephew mean that there’s a ton of worldbuilding…perhaps too much for the amount of plot in this novella. There’s very little plot. But there is a knit shop.

I feel like I’m flailing about a bit, so I’ll just sum up: I enjoyed the reading experience, but didn’t feel like I had read a satisfying mystery when I closed the book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report

I enjoyed this cozy novella. A murder happens on a colony ship where people's minds are supposed to live forever. A ship detective puts the clues together in classic cozy mystery style, and the author included a couple tropes from the genre, which were fun to think about in a sci-fi setting. I would read more from this author.

I really enjoyed this one! I love a mystery and the setting is so interesting. Also all of the gays. Love a book where no one is straight. I hope Waite writes more of these. I'll definitely be on the look out!

I really enjoyed this novella, I found it to be an enthralling and wonderfully crafted mystery that blends clever storytelling with rich, atmospheric writing. Waite's intricate plot and well-developed characters keep readers hooked from start to finish. The dynamic between the leads is both heartfelt and engaging, adding an emotional depth that makes the suspense even more compelling. With its perfect mix of intrigue and heart, this book is a must-read for fans of cozy mysteries and romantic suspense alike!

4.5 stars - A cozy mystery in space

Ship’s detective Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers. Another woman is dead, and someone has destroyed the “book” in which Dorothy’s own mind had been stored for the last several years. On a generation ship where everyone is used to dying and waking up again in a “blank” (essentially a body cloned from their own), it’s disconcerting to find herself inhabiting an unfamiliar body, but Dorothy gamely sets about investigating the other woman’s death, the destruction of her own book, and just why Gloria, the woman whose body she now inhabits, was out and about during a magnetic-storm lockdown.

Dorothy is an engaging first-person narrator. Regardless of her physical age, she comes across as a capable, observant, and intelligent middle-aged woman. She’s practical and level-headed, with a wry sense of humor and a tendency to avoid sentiment—especially when it comes to her brilliant but sometimes feckless nephew, Rutherford (or “Ruthie”), of whom she is secretly very fond. She solves the mystery quite handily, aided by Ruthie, his equally brilliant lover John, and Ferry, the AI entity who runs the ship.

The overall premise is fascinating. I’m interested to see how the worldbuilding develops and interacts with the mystery plots over future books. A victim who can live again gives a different twist to both murder and investigation! I do hope that the next installment will be longer, though. This one felt almost too short; I wanted to spend more time with Dorothy, Ferry, Ruthie, and John. I’d also like to see Dorothy contend with a more complex plot—one with more red herrings, false clues, and obstacles to solving it. There’s scope for some deeper character exploration as well. But I found the book delightful despite its brevity, and I’m really looking forward to the next one.

The blurb said “Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple” and if that’s not up my alley I don’t know what is. A murder mystery on a spaceship? Count me in. This novella has a strong sense of setting, with gorgeous sci-fi imagery describing the generation ship, called the Fairweather, in detail. The world we step into in this book is distinct and immersive from the jump, and I found it fascinating. The characters were also interesting and enjoyable. Between the detailed setting, the characterization and the cozy tone, I think that the comparison to Becky Chambers is an apt one. I was less clear on large-scale worldbuilding things like where the ship was going and why, but as it was largely inconsequential to the story, I was happy to just go along and not worry about it too much. The novella was too short for there to be any really complex twists and turns in the mystery, but that was fine – it was still interesting, and anything too complex in a story this length and it would have felt rushed and lost that cozy feel, and had less space for the worldbuilding and character details I enjoyed so much. I was pleased to see that Goodreads put this as the first in a series, and I really hope that’s accurate, because I would be very happy to inhabit this world again.

Representation: LGBTQIA+ characters

It brings me such joy to see this marked as the first in the new Dorothy Gentleman series, because I am already looking forward to Dorothy's next case! 

At the opening of this novella, Dorothy awakens in an elevator during a magnetic storm on the HMS Fairweather...in someone else's body. Not to mention, there has been a murder on board this interstellar passenger liner making its way to a new Earth. AND someone has been purposely damaging memory books (literal backups of passengers' minds) in the Library. Are these events connected or separate crimes? It's a good thing that Dorothy happens to be one of the ship's detectives. Thus begins her hunt for answers...

I can definitely see why this sci-fi mystery genre blend was marketed as 'Miss Marple in space'. While Dorothy does share Marple's keen eye for human nature and a love of knitting, I would argue Dorothy is her own character and a modernized spinster sleuth in the best way possible. And I loved following her character's perspective. I also enjoyed the blending of science fiction with mystery, and I found the two intertwined nicely together. The technology, the spaceship setting, and the culture created from people living hundreds of years en route to a new version of Earth...all of it affected the crimes at hand. And I think that makes it a true genre BLEND. 

My only complaint is that I wish the book were longer. Understandably, this is a novella, so sacrifices must be made when it comes to development and description. With that said, the ending did feel slightly rushed, and I would have liked more space on the page allocated to developing motive for the culprit. As that was lacking, and we had little time with all suspects, I am hesitant to call this plot a fair play mystery. 

A fast-paced, easy-to-read palette cleanser for quozy (queer + cozy) mystery readers! 

Actual Rating: 4.0 stars 
Original Pub Date: 18 March 2025
Reading Format: ebook

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for an E-ARC copy in exchange for this honest review!

I was quite excited to get an ARC for Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (on sale March 18!), because I am already a huge fan of her queer romances (Hen Fever is a DELIGHT). So when I heard her newest novella was not only sci fi, but a cozy murder mystery (two genres that I think need more crossover), I was very excited, and my anticipation paid off. Murder by Memory is, as advertised, incredibly cozy, with main character Dorothy Gentlemen doing some old-fashioned sleuthing as she attempts to solve a murder in a magnetic storm, figure out if her nephew needs a talking to, and sneak in some flirting in her spare time. The world-building is fun, the mystery is tightly-paced, and the biggest downfall is that it’s not longer because I zipped right through this and could have read more.

Our story begins when Dorothy Gentleman, ship’s detective, wakes up in a lift in a body that is not her own. This is surprising to her, because she wasn’t scheduled to be re-printed for quite a few years yet, and it should have been in her familiar body. This is because on the Fairweather the would-be colonists have solved the problem of knowledge-loss and skills degradation by becoming functionally immortal. At any point, you can save your brain and personality as a print in your “book” in the ship’s library, and when your current body gets old, you can print another copy. If life in a space ship grows stale, or the weight of time grows too heavy, one can simply leave behind an order to have a little break before being re-printed. Dorothy, recovering from a complicated break-up, was supposed to be on that break, but is put in a new body because there’s been a murder. There’s also a magnetic storm, so the ship’s brain can’t help her and everything is locked down. She has to figure out what she’s missed and how to navigate operating in an unfamiliar body at the same time. All in the life of a detective in space.

I thought Waite was particularly deft with the world-building in a novella, which I know she has past experience in doing. Because this is a cozy setting about essentially a locked-room murder (no outsiders on a spaceship), a lot of the hardships and horrors of space have been waved away with convenient technology, which I was ready to embrace in the nature of a Star Trek-like society. Sometimes we can read about luxury space travel instead of a Weyland-Yutani future as a treat! It was precisely what I wanted to read about on a cold winter night, but I also appreciated the inventive way that Waite introduced conflict and obstacles into this seemingly-serene environment, and we get all of this with a minimum of clunky exposition that left me wildly curious about the implications in greater ship society.

Dorothy was also a great character. Largely unflappable through the weight of long experience and pragmatic in the classic way of the singular detective, Dorothy nonetheless maintains enough joie de vivre to be interested in what changes have happened to neighborhoods she has not visited in a while and to be delighted by small normal things like a yarn shop and a particularly fine piece of fiber work. Not entirely over the complex circumstances of her breakup, Dorothy can also still feel a spark of interest in a beautiful woman who she encounters in the course of her investigation. Although matters do not progress very far, I can’t wait to see further developments in future books.

Murder by Memory comes out on March 18,, so run out and order it now, so we can be sure to get lots of additional books! It’s a cute, cozy mystery with some comforting sci-fi world-building, and as a novella, it’s a great little read when you just need a small break for a story. I’m definitely going to put any future installments on my list immediately.

I loved Murder by Memory! It was a very different reading experience than Waite's Feminine Pursuits series, particularly how much worldbuilding there was (memory books, experience cocktails!) in just a few pages. The cozy sci-fi aesthetic with a side of body horror will likely be a hit with fans of Becky Chambers. My only complaint is how short it was, but the plot was wrapped up nicely, I just wanted more time with the characters. I'm particularly excited to get to know our our protagonist better, detective Dorothy Gentleman, and seeing how her relationships develop as the series goes on!

Dorothy Gentleman is a passenger on the HMS Fairweather, a ship traveling through space for centuries on route to settling a new home. To accommodate the long journey, passengers preserve all their memories in the Library, so if their bodies fail, their minds can be added to a healthy body and they are reborn. However, when Dorothy wakes up after a couple of years of voluntary stasis, she finds herself not in her own body… but in someone else’s.

It appears that something damaged Dorothy’s memory book, and as one of the ship’s investigators (and the aunt of one of the ship’s programmers), emergency protocol had her awakened and put in the closest available body. As Dorothy investigates the murder, she finds a number of possible suspects. Things are complicated by the fact that Dorothy doesn’t appear as herself, but as Gloria Vowell, the woman whose body she now inhabits — a woman who has an unexpected connection to the case. Even more frightening, Dorothy learns that the damage to the Library may not have been accidental, but by design. Without the memory books, when someone dies or is killed, there is no way to bring them back. But Dorothy is nothing if not determined, and she is out to find the killer before it is too late.

Ok, so hear me out. Cozy mystery… in space. Awesome, right? I was hooked on this one from the blurb and I think this first book in the Dorothy Gentleman series delivers nicely on its premise. I really enjoyed the way the small-town vibe of many cozies translates to this space ship. We have almost a locked-room scenario, as the killer is obviously aboard the ship, and a lovely older woman who is investigating. Author Olivia Waite really enhances the story with some creative world building. This group is on a journey that will take many lifetimes, so they have sort of a technology-based reincarnation. Old body worn out or injured? Download your memories into a fresh one! But what then happens when those memory books are damaged and there is no way to bring someone back again? The premise not only allows for a creative mystery, but also to explore the idea of mortality. Here is a passage from after Dorothy realizes that someone is unable to be brought back:

I shivered. Gone. It was one thing for a body to die: three hundred years of dying and waking up and dying again had meant all of us were more or less used to the idea of a bodily death at this point. But for a whole person to be gone — all their memories, all their skills, the essence of who they were — for it to be wiped from the record completely, with no way of ever getting it back…

The world building also allows for some clever elements, like the fact that Dorothy is investigating in Gloria’s body, which allows her access and anonymity that often helps her investigation. There is also the fact that Dorothy is an older woman (though I’m not clear on her actual age) and she is temporarily in the body of a much younger one. So suddenly all those aches and pains of age are gone as she lives in this much younger body.

I think the mystery is interesting, and like I said, the world building here allows for a lot of cleverness and unique twists. And I loved the fact that it all takes place on this giant ship. Waite gives a lot of great detail that really brings the setting to life. However, I do think the investigation lacked a little intensity, even for a cozy mystery. There isn’t a lot of action, versus talking through the resolution, as Dorothy learns about the killer and how they accomplished the crime. So even though I didn’t expect high suspense, I did find this was perhaps just a little too relaxed and I wanted a bit more from the climax.

Just for clarity, I wouldn’t consider this a true romance and Dorothy is not involved in a romantic relationship (though that may come further in the series). However, she is a widow who lost her wife in a way that did not allow for her to be brought back in a new body, and Dorothy put herself into a stasis of sorts to give herself some time to recover emotionally. Almost all the side characters of significance are involved in same sex partnerships, so this a cast full of queer characters, including Dorothy’s nephew.

I thought this was a really great start to an interesting new series. I loved Dorothy as our lead and POV character, and the setting and unique world building adds a great twist. I am really excited about this series and looking forward to more.

A solid begging to a new series. I enjoyed reading this quick, fun cozy mystery set in space. The character set up is intriguing and the mystery was well paced. I’m looking forward to future books!