I found this to be cute and fun but it lacked substance. Would recommend for a quick (!!) cozy mystery with sci-fi aspects in the background.

Thank you to TorDotCom for my review copy. My opinions are my own.

This story tickled a itch that I didn't know that I really had. A sci-fi murder mystery with a detective waking up in a body that isn't theirs. And lies all over the place. I loved the memory drinks, the atmosphere of Ferry, the description of the Library filled with people's books, the idea that you lived your life, then when you died you were uploaded into your new copy body, and so much of little other details (oh and the big details - like the queer normality).

Dorothy Gentleman is a fascinating character and I can't wait to see what hijinks she gets up to in her next installment. Also can I just appreciate the fact that the main character is older, she is in her 50's and still living life, even if it's on a space ship on it's way to a new planet.

Highly recommend!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I’ve enjoyed Olivia Waite’s historicals, so I was excited to see her trying something new. While neither sci-fi nor (especially) cozy mystery are favorite genres of mine, I like what Waite brought to this cross-genre story, especially in terms of the world building, and the concept of memory “books” being a vehicle for rebirth after death in a new body, The cozy, sentient spaceship, the HMS Fairweather, was also vividly drawn, and I hope to see more of it in future. While the “cozy mystery” itself was a bit less intriguing to me, combined with these other fun elements, I was drawn in. Dorothy Gentleman is also a solid protagonist, and I loved the sensation of exploring the world through an older person who has regained youth. Generally, a really cool intro to a clever, original series.

I loved Olivia Waite's sapphic Regency romances (the Feminine Pursuits series), so I was intrigued to see this sci-fi novella offering. It's always interesting to see an author do something quite different than their usual.

Murder by Memory gets off to a bit of a slow start, but the plot picked up quickly in this sci fi whodunnit, and left me wondering how the author would fit all the disparate puzzle pieces together in the end. And I adore the little push-and-pull with Violet.

This is book 1 in the Dorothy Gentleman series, and I can't wait to see what comes next!

A cozy sci-fi mystery that will put you in your grandma era.

This story follows a space detective who wakes up in the wrong body. What drew me to this story is the FMC is an older woman and gives real Jessica Fletcher vibes. Our FMC, Dorothy (yes, really that's her name and I LOVE THAT!), finds out that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.

We follow Dorothy as she untangles a web of lies and deceit by finding clues on board the giant space ship and eventually identifying the culprit.

Also, we visit a yarn store! Yes, this spaceship has a yarn store, because of course it does.

Pick this up if you love
✨ Cozy sci-fi
✨ Novella
✨Older FMC
✨Queer-normative culture
✨A deep dive on gender, bodies and identity

This book is best read while crocheting in a library, watch out for the murderer.

A cute cozy mystery. Closed room mystery I suppose as it’s set on a generation ship. It’s only novella length but it describes the world well and gives you enough of the main character to make her interesting and feel like a person. I’d read another quite happily.

This is exactly what I love about short fiction. Waite drops the reader into the middle of a complex reality, 100% certain that they will catch up. There is no time to over-explain. And the story! Dorothy is my new favourite sleuth, and this twist on a generation ship is my new favourite setting. Twists and turns, love gone wrong, and the power of human nature to overpower any kind of advancement we could make! It’s a nearly perfect little story that parallels our own reality a little close for comfort: everybody is keeping secrets and some of them can get you killed. 100% will recommend, this us my next staff pick.

#MurderByMemory:⁣
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Thank you @macmillan.audio and @torbooks my for gifted copies! #TorBooks #MacAudio2025⁣
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This is basically everything I’ve ever hoped for and more. Space detective aunt?! I’m so happy to see a #1 in the series because I need like 15 of these immediately. It’s giving a new age sci-fi Agatha Christie. It is a short read, which has me satisfied and yet begging for more. ⁣
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Our girl Dorothy wakes up in a different body. Hold up. She was “shelved” in a library where you can basically get your slumber on in the future. She’s in Gloria’s body, finding out a lot of the shelves have been ruined. Now, who did this and how does she get back in her own body? ⁣
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Audio was perfect. A little under 2 hours, it’s a little bite size snack of locked room mystery!! I’ve been living for my space mysteries and this is no exception! Blair Baker did a wonderful job, and I hope to hear more of Baker as future narrations for the series. ⁣
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Out Tuesday the 18th, I’m really excited to see this one out in the world.

n Murder by Memory, Olivia Waite has created a detective truly of and for this century. Murder by Memory is a queer cozy scifi mystery, and Dorothy Gentleman is our detective. This is the first book in a detective series and I will very happily continue reading this series.

The synopsis of the book: 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.

The characters in this book are smart, the setting is very cool as is the premise. I really enjoyed this lock room mystery. I need to thank Orbit Books and Net Galley for my arc.

The best parts of Agatha Christie on a spaceship, with cozy vibes and love of knitting. Dorothy Gentleman wakes up trapped in an elevator and a body that is not her own. Dorothoy is a ship's detective on HMS Fairweather, a generation ship where the memories of the passengers are preserved and reuploaded into new bodies every time they die. Now, however, not only has there been a murder, but also an attack on the stored memories that mean that one of the passengers is indeed gone forever. This fun, cozy read deals with fraud, jealousy, and murder in a breezy, enjoyable way that will delight mystery fans who prefer their death with a minimum of gore. An intersting take on the challenges of life on a generation ship that doesn't forget human nature is selfish and ultimately stupid while having a hell of a time.

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite follows Dorothy Gentleman, who is a detective on the ship Fairweather (or Ferry, for short) who is woken from her rest in the library to discover that the book holding her memory is destroyed, and at the same time, someone was found dead. On the Fairweather, people store their consciousnesses in books, updating them as they please, so they can be transferred to a new body when their previous one becomes damaged. Dorothy’s book being destroyed, and someone turning up dead, means that our ship’s detective has a rather suspicious coincidence on her hands.

My personal thoughts: This book has a fascinating concept to start with. The writing is a bit eccentric but it works very well with the tone of the book, and is honestly just great writing. Dorothy’s habit of finding comfort in fabric arts resonates with me, as I do the same thing. The mystery within this book is enticing, with each new detail uncovered adding a layer of intricacy to the plot. This was a delightful short read, I wasn’t particularly expecting the mix of knitting and mystery but I did greatly enjoy it. All things considered, it had a happy ending!

This book is perfect for readers wanting a quick, satisfying mystery with a sci-fi twist. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for allowing me to read this e-arc!

I can't believe how much story Olivia Waite was able to pack into 100 pages!
We meet Dorothy as she wakes up in a body that's.. not hers. She is a Detective on a ship called the Fairweather, and waking up in a new body isn't that unusual, but waking up in one that doesn't belong to her is, so she knows immediately that something is wrong on the Fairweather. Especially once the ship tells Dorothy there is a dead body aboard.
This body was So. Much Fun! Dorothy is a great character to follow, and I loved watching her solve this case. There were just enough twists and turns, and just the world we are in is super interesting. I'm hoping since Goodreads has this listed as book one that we are going to get many more books with Dorothy aboard the Fairweather (a ship that I fell for immediately), I can't wait to see what happens next!

Murder by Memory, by Olivia Waite, is a quick, fun science-fiction mystery. The novella is set on a sort of generation ship, with a big twist: Instead of having children take their place on the long voyage through the stars, the passengers extend their lives by uploading their memories into fresh clone-bodies when they die. The novella starts when Dorothy Gentleman wakes up and discovers she’s been uploaded off schedule and into the wrong body, and she finds out soon that someone else is dead. As one of the ship’s detectives, she shelves her personal feelings (that’s my little in-joke) and immediately starts investigating.

It turns out that during or possibly just before a magnetic storm, someone erased some of the memory-books in the ship’s Library. One of those books was Dorothy’s, but luckily, she’s one of the few people who had a backup. But why the erasures, why the death, and what’s been going on in the complicated life of the person whose body she’s temporarily inhabiting? She’s determined to find out.

On the ship, where passengers decided on rules for a new culture before embarking 307 years ago, passion and money still appear to be the two most common motives for crimes, although with some differences. For instance, one of the ways people express their love is to arrange for their memory-books to be shelved next to each other in the Library while they’re between bodies. For another instance, although some essentials are provided to everyone on the ship, people still earn money with jobs, such as creating clothing or art, or banking, or bartending — but the drinks are infused with vivid sensual memories of life back home.

I found the worldbuilding intriguing in this book. The ship is a planned society that has been relatively stable for three centuries, and will need to stay stable for centuries more. Incidental statements from the narrator, Dorothy (the book is written in first person past tense), make clear that she’s writing for someone far in the future when the ship will be just a memory.

There’s a certain generosity in this society; for instance, once debts are repaid, they’re erased from public records. And there is enough housing available that people can move around fairly freely. But some things are more scarce, such as space in the Library; only the Council and a few special cases like Dorothy have backups for their main memory books, since those were supposed to be nigh invulnerable. And since nobody can think of everything, loopholes in the rules are discovered once in a while, which turn out to matter.

The book isn’t overburdened with infodumps, aside from a few explanations such as how the Library works; most of the worldbuilding is sprinkled through with little parenthetical asides by Dorothy. But that leaves plenty of room for more explanations and revelations as this series continues, as Waite plans to write more. I’ll be curious to find out other things; why exactly did this group set out to create a new society and eventually a new world together? Are they fleeing catastrophe or oppression? Are there no children, or did Dorothy just not run into any during this investigation? (If not, will people resume having children again when they make planetfall, or are they planning to keep cloning themselves and downloading themselves throughout eternity?) I did have a few quibbles with how things might work, but on the whole I was happy to be riding along on the ship with Dorothy.

Dorothy is an interesting character; she says she joined this venture so that her nephew wouldn’t be traveling alone, but it appears she needs connections too. She’s recovering from a deep personal loss but she’s beginning to be interested in other possibilities again. She’s observant, as a detective needs to be, and questions other people’s motives (except for those of her nephew, who’s a brilliant programmer but rather naive). She takes great pleasure in having a capable young body again, although she’s unsettled by the differences from her own body. I’m uneasy over some of her decisions, but I hope to read more from her viewpoint in the future.

Waite is mostly known for her romance novels and columns for the New York Times Book Review. However, those who follow Waite to this book from romancelandia may find that it comes up a bit short on that aspect; there are plot-relevant relationships and passions, but most of them are observed during the investigation rather than experienced, except for Dorothy mourning her lost love, and the seeds of a future possibility. This novella feels more like a cozy mystery in space — one of the characters even runs a yarn shop! It also feels more like space opera than serious science fiction, but that’s no drawback for providing an entertaining read.

I enjoyed Murder by Memory. Sure, there’s a little darkness in the hearts of some characters, given the nature of the story, but it doesn’t dwell on that. Instead, it’s a breezy space mystery with enough interesting worldbuilding, descriptions, characterizations, and plot to hold my attention and make me want to visit the setting, Dorothy, and her connections again. More of this, please!

This is an absolutely charming book. I could have read it in one sitting if I wanted to but I wanted to savor it. I love the concept of the memory books and the setting in space. It was cozy and curious and I can't wait to see what else this author writes in the future.

Murder by Memory is a delightful space mystery. There is a lot packed into this short 100+ page story. I'm always impressed by authors who can build a whole new world in a short story.

Waite does a great job balancing broad strong and fine detail when building her world on the space vessel Fairweather. She draws on some technology that science fiction fans will recognize like the retromat and autochef - they are like the replicators in Star Trek. But she spends a little more time on those aspects that are unique to this world.

A big question that often comes up in space travel books is how to account for the time it takes to travel anywhere. Waite envisions a world where people can upload their memories and then when their physical bodies die they can have those memories downloaded into a newly made body. I guess everyone is synthetic. It begs the question is there more to a person than their memories.

Some of the broader strokes of the world-building have to do with why they are traveling through space. We know they left Earth centuries ago, but we don't know why nor do we know where they're heading.

I liked the few characters we met. There isn't much in the way of character-building. We get to know the personalities of two of the characters, Dorothy and Ruthie but the other characters are just their actions.

Even the murder is a means to show how the world is. As this is listed as book 1 in the Dorothy Gentleman series, I assume we will get more character development in future books and this one was more for setting up the world.

If you want an entertaining afternoon read, this would be a good one to get.

My review is published at Girl Who Reads - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2025/03/can-you-solve-these-murder-mysteries.html

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a cozy mystery as much as the next guy but what I love ever more is a GAY cozy mystery set IN SPACE with a main character older (way older) than 25! This fast-paced novella introduces a cast of characters I'm looking forward to learning more about in future books but still works great as a standalone mystery. The main character, Dorothy Gentlemen, immediately endeared me to her with her sharp mind, sticktoitiveness, and snark. Each person she interacts with also comes to life on the page. Waite manages to pack a lot into a thin volume and this story had me thinking long after I closed it about human nature, immortality, love, betrayal, and more. I highly recommend this book!

Murder by Memory could have been a disaster to pack the intricacies of a new science fiction world and a murder investigation in just under 150 pages. But instead Waite delivers a story that whets the appetite. The world within Murder by Memory is intriguing and concise. The same goes for the investigation elements which have this bread crumb style to the clues where I like to think if I was just a little bit more perceptive, I could have figured it out. But I have nothing on Dorothy. These are the kind of mysteries I love and this queer sci-fi novella hit the spot.

This follows in the footsteps of a few books in the past few years that I've enjoyed, most notably The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal and Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty. I think the comp to A Memory Called Empire is probably doing this a bit of a disservice (I see it, with the moving bodies thing, but that book is so complex and filled with political intrigue that a cozy mystery feels like a letdown). This is, I think, most similar to The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older, in that there is a science fiction/space backdrop, and the logistics of it are explored briefly in an interesting way (I LOVED the economic set up? very interesting), but it is never the focus on the novel. Instead, Murder by Memory is essentially a locked room/ship mystery where the reader never knows enough about the setup or circumstances to be able to make any kind of educated guess as to who the murder is and instead is just along for the ride. It's very cozy, even more so than the typical cozy mystery because most of the murder potentials are not permanent. I liked the main character and I would definitely read more set in this same world.

A short, sharp novella with a tightly woven mystery, set onboard a generation ship where death isn't permanent, murder victims can testify against their murderers, and the preservation of memory is essential. The lead character is terrific, and since this is apparently the start of a series, it's great to know that there's more to come.

I enjoyed this quick little futuristic murder mystery! Despite the length, I felt like I was truly immersed in the ship's world. I would absolutely read additional stories set in this ship. I loved the idea of memories being stored in a library and being able to live continuously because of it. It brings up some interesting philosophical points. The plot itself was pretty basic, but the characters and the setting made up for it. I would definitely recommend this book to my followers!