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by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in space with her talent for creating glittering high-society in this stylish SF mystery, The Spare Man.
Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She's traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling―and keep the real killer from striking again.
"Kowal's comedy-of-manners SF mystery is a rollicking case of knowing when to throw decorum out the window in order to get results. Highly recommended for... anyone who loves a good mystery in an out-of-this-world setting." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"Kowal expertly weaves in red herrings and twists right up to the unmasking of the killer, and punctuates the suspense with moments of sparkling wit... this is a page-turner." ―Publishers Weekly
"Kowal delivers a fast-paced thrill ride that places a traditional hard-boiled detective story in space... readers of traditional detective stories and science fiction alike will not be disappointed." ―Booklist
"A perfect latter-stages-of-a-pandemic read, The Spare Man is a balm for those who are re-learning how to be in a changed (real) world." ―Locus
"Rarely is science fiction as entertaining and fun as The Spare Man is from start to finish. Mary Robinette Kowal is a modern master of the genre." ―John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author
This information about The Spare Man was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning alternate history novel, The Calculating Stars, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series. She is also the author of The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo Awards, the Nebula, and Locus Awards. Her stories appear in Asimov's, Uncanny, and several Year's Best anthologies. Mary Robinette has also worked as a professional puppeteer, is a member of the Award-winning podcast Writing Excuses, and performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and Neal Stephenson. She lives in Tennessee with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.
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