When Dorothy Gentleman, ship's detective, wakes up in a body that isn't hers, she's more than a little annoyed. After all, she's supposed to be retired, her mind resting in the ship's Library until she decides to print a body again. And even if she'd chosen to wake up, she should be in a fresh body all her own. But there's been a murder on the ship, and what's worse, someone is deleting the memory archives from the Library itself - something that should be impossible.

MURDER BY MEMORY is a fluffy fun little appetizer that left me longing for a deeper dive into this world. The mystery itself is pretty straight forward. Dorothy goes from point A to B to C in fairly quick succession, following the clues on a mostly linear path. It's not going to scatter red herrings on your trail or give you a cast of suspects to consider. In fact, the mystery is less about the Who than it is about the Why and the How.

Instead, I was much more intrigued with puzzling out the ship the murder takes place on. The H.M.S. Fairweather is on a thousand year journey to a new planet. But with the technology to back up a person's mind, it's not a traditional generation ship; there isn't a constant turnover of populace because a person can simply print themselves into a fresh body when their old body gives out. This opens up a whole host of fascinating societal questions that MURDER BY MEMORY only barely begins to touch on, but it was enough of a glimpse that I wanted to know more.

I was also impressed by the way the author quickly sketched out her core cast of characters, from Dorothy herself to Ralphie her well-meaning but not always sensible nephew to his mysterious bartender boyfriend. They don't have deep backstories given the length of the novella, but I got enough of a sense of them that I wanted to spend more time with them, as much as I wanted to explore the ship.

MURDER BY MEMORY is like an episode of a weekly crime procedural. You'll know most of the beats, but you'll enjoy it anyway for the comfort of the familiar, and you'll want to return the cozy cast of characters. As this is the start of a new sci-fi mystery series, I'm definitely looking forward to more adventures in this world, but I do find myself wishing this were a main course instead of a snack.

Murder by memory packs such as large punch in a pint sized package (novella). Between an incredibly cool world and a lovable host of characters this is what a cozy mystery dreams are made of.

Olivia Waite’s Murder By Memory compared itself to Dorothy L. Sayers and Ann Leckie, which was a huge ask — and I don’t think it worked. Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, but I didn’t get Sayers from it (more Agatha Christie) and there wasn’t enough focus on the culture or enough gender fuckery to feel like a Leckie title. The comparison to A Memory Called Empire didn’t ring particularly true for me, either, but Miss Marple is an apt comparison.

It was a fun mystery, nonetheless, shaped by its setting rather than just pasted on, and I enjoyed Dorothy’s voice and the concept of the generation ship, the “books” that hold people’s memories, and the ingenious crime that makes use of that. Plus, it’s nice to have a detective fascinated by knitting, and shaped by a long life.

I’d be curious about more stories in the same world, and a few more peeks at things like the Antikythera Club, Crimes Committed, and of course, Dorothy and her interest in Violet. And knitting.

This is a quick read super satisfying sci-fi novella from Olivia Waite. Waite offers a future where humans upload their memories into books, meaning that murder is on the decline, as the victim can just be re-downloaded into a new body. Instead of heading for the dystopic, however, Waite's ship feels more gently utopic...with the recognition of loopholes that stop this utopia from seeming sinister and instead framing it as made from various ways that humans could treat one another better than we do.

3.5 stars

This little sci-fi murder mystery novella is wildly different from the historical romance I have read from Olivia Waite, but her skill at writing sympathetic and slightly mischievous characters remains.

I’d characterize the genre a little more as science fantasy than science fiction, because the futuristic ‘science’ of distilling memories into cocktails and uploading human consciousness into books is much more imaginatively than technically based; however, it takes place on a spaceship and the mystery is solved through deductive reasoning, so it’s certainly grounded in a sense of psychological reality if not the ‘real world.’

There’s an endearing Woodhousean quality to the characters, who despite being three-century-old personalities in recycled bodies careening through the stars all have a charmingly early- to mid-century well-to-do Britishness about their mannerisms (also reminiscent of Agatha Christie adaptations).

While I do think the novella length worked (high praise from me, who often finds novellas leaving me feeling a little short-changed) I really wish that knitting (one of the main characters’ (reported) principle hobbies) had played a much larger role in the plot. Hopefully it will do so in future installments.

Cozy sci-fi mystery? On a spaceship? What is not to love. I wish this was a full length novel because all I can say is I want more. It feels like an episode of a TV show and I want a whole season. I loved Dorothy and the drunk sounding AI.

Though this story very much had an in-medias-res start in terms of the world construct, I like the narrator's voice and found the reveals of the plot structure easy to identify. I just wish some of them had been clearer sooner. Overall it was a quick pleasant read. I would recommend it to fans of Murderbot and other cozy sci-fi reads.

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

Thanks to NetGalley for this gifted ARC!

If you love detective stories with a sci-fi twist, Murder by Memory is a must-read. Set aboard a ship traveling to a new planet—a journey that takes over a thousand years—the story introduces a fascinating concept: memories are stored and uploaded into new bodies, allowing people to live lifetime after lifetime.

Our main character, a detective, unexpectedly wakes up in a new body after her previous death, only to find herself in the middle of a murder investigation. Someone has been killed, and she has to solve the case while adjusting to her unfamiliar form.

I was hooked from the start! The mystery was engaging, the pacing kept me turning pages, and the world-building on the ship was so well done. This book sets the stage for more stories to come, and I could easily see it becoming a TV series in the future. If you love detective mysteries with a unique setting, this one is for you!

⭐ Releases March 18, 2025! Highly recommend for sci-fi and mystery lovers. ⭐

I do love a little genre mixer, and this one is a murder mystery that takes place on a space ship, so it squarely fit my interests. I didn’t know it was a novella, and I was disappointed when I figured it out about halfway through, because I wanted to spend more time in the fascinating world that Waite built up, where our consciousness never runs out of bodies to reanimate into. It did take away from the “murder” aspect a bit, but then the stakes are appropriately raised. I very much enjoyed the characters sketched out, and would love to spend more time with them! And it gave me a reprieve from a reading slump, bless.

This was a fun setting for a mystery, and I really enjoyed the writing. The narrator is a detective whose consciousness has been on a space ship for 300 years. The technology that allows for a thousand-year voyage in which residents store their memories in books and get new bodies when the old ones die is never fully explained, but the mystery that revolves around this technology is well thought-out and entertaining. I liked the idea, for example, that if you give a murder victim a couple of days for their memories to be restored to a new body, they could help you figure out who killed them.

I loved Dorothy's voice and her relationship with her nephew Ruthie. The ship's reaction to the magnetic storm was very funny. If this is the start of a series, I'm definitely up for more.

This was a great queer cozy sci fi mystery novella! It's engaging, fast-paced, and a lot of fun! Dorothy Gentleman is a detective on board a generation ship who finds herself in the wrong body. Another passenger is dead and someone has erased Dorothy's memory book! It's up to Dorothy to solve the case before anyone else dies.

This book packs a PUNCH at just at 100 pages. Like... this is seriously a master class in storytelling. I was introduced to new sci-fi technology but I wasn't confused. The world of the ship and societal norms were so clear. It felt like I was reading a cozy mystery (like a queer Murder She Wrote) on a spaceship (think Wall-E). The vibes were just sooo good.

There's no reason for you *not* to read it. I mean... it'll only take you an hour or so. Just pick it up. I'm sure you won't be sorry!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with copies of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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.
Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she’s letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they’ve had three hundred years to perfect their schemes…

This novella has an interesting premise, a sci-fi mystery on a spaceship where people don't actually die unless they are murdered. Work in a detective that is easily distracted by knitting and you'll have many who want to read more about Dorothy and her adventures in space.
Listed as the first in a new series, this was very enjoyable and I'll be waiting to read the next one.

I would read a dozens, hundreds of books set in this world. Epic sci-fi worldbuilding meets cozy mystery with glimmers of Sapphic romance....absolutely delightful.

I enjoyed this but it felt like the beginning of a story rather than a complete story. I'd love seeing where the universe and characters go next but this was more of a taster than a fully fleshed out story imo.

Olivia Waite's Murder by Memory is your next cozy read. Whether you love Becky Chambers or are looking for a cozy murder mystery, this novel has the best of both worlds. A brooding yet loveable detective. Quicky queer side characters, including a hungover AI. A spaceship traveling to a distant planet. Grab your cozy knitted blanket and a warm cup of tea, and enjoy!

Minority Report but make it a book, and better! I highly enjoyed this novella - excellent storytelling, easy to digest, and very fun!!

Oh, I LOVED this and need a whole series stat. I want to learn so much more about the HMS Fairweather, and all 10000 humans who have had 300 years together, starting over and over in new bodies. I neeeeeeeed more.

This should have been a full fledged book, I'd have happily spent time on that. This felt like a quick rushed writing sprint than anything else.

I received an advance copy of this novella via NetGalley.

Murder by Memory is a staunchly science fiction mystery; by that, I mean this is definitely for SF readers, as it has a twisty-turny plot that might lose trad mystery readers.

The HMS Fairweather is ship on a thousand-year journey to a new world. People’s essences are stored in a Library, and when their bodies wear out, they can be restored… usually. So when ship detective Dorothy Gentleman awakens in someone else’s body, she knows something went very wrong.

The mystery is fascinating and fast to read, the technology unique and fascinating. The end delivers twists I never would have seen coming. That said, I was left wondering about a significant aspect of humanity: faith, either in familiar Earth forms or in something new aligning with a shifted view on souls and eternity.