Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

I was very pleasantly surprised by Murder by Memory. This was another random San Mateo County Library pick - the scifi library on the cover caught my eye! Two of my favorite things! Libraries! And space! And the length of the book was just what I needed. I was in the mood for something short and sweet.

Murder by Memory offers us a universe where humanity has escaped planet Earth & is on route to a new home planet. But along the way, on the lightyears long interstellar journey, people are temporarily allowed immortality (just until they reach the next planet, of course). Their memories are source-controlled into a library and the RAM is physically shelved. When you die, all you need to do is 3d print a new body & re-upload your last copy. Sure, you may lose a few hours. But what’s a few hours in the grand scheme of an interstellar journey? There’s seemingly endless time, centuries of drama, and very (little) death.

On the rare occasion of death, we have an investigator: Dorothy. She is right out of scifi noir dream: widowed, clever, lonely, and with a dashing yet silly nephew. She investigates the mysterious deletion of a memory bank (thus, a person) during a cosmic storm that leaves her trapped in the victim’s body. We have femme fatales, financial crimes, and a secret society. This was a romp and in all the best ways!

There was a lot of time spent on exposition: the history of the ship, how we got there, the technology that makes it work. But this means I’ll enjoy the next book even more!

Love it!