MURDER BY MEMORY by Olivia Waite

4 stars

This intriguing speculative science fiction mystery novelette brings us to far future, on board a interstellar space ship that has been headed for several centuries to a new planet for humanity. For the people on board, one’s memories can be easily uploaded and updated to a memory book stored in the ship’s library. Replicas of one’s body can be manufactured and one’s consciousness moved to the new body when the old one fails.

Dorothy Gentleman, one of the older humans serving as a ship detective in lieu of any police presence on the ship, suddenly and startingly awakens into a body not her own. The ship’s AI has thrown her into the nearby young body of banker Gloria Vowell when Dorothy’s memory book gets destroyed in the library. Fortunately, Dorothy’s genius nephew, Ruthie Talmadge, who has coded the ship, created a second memory back up of his aunt. He also reveals that he and a science colleague recently stumbled on a way to erase a memory book, something thought impossible. Dorothy goes on the hunt for the perpetrator, as it’s clear that deliberate vandalism has been involved in the destruction of her book and a couple others adjacent to hers on the library shelves. Her investigation into the memory murder expands as she realizes an even bigger crime may have involved.

What’s amazing in such a short book are the fantastic details of the world-building, imaginative evolutions of future technology, a plot that reads like a cozy mystery with innumerable engaging plot twists, and an unexpectedly clever investigative heroine in nosy aunt Dorothy.

The only thing stopping me from giving this review five stars is just how short the novella is – more and longer in Dorothy’s next outing please!!

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.