Wow... just wow! What a perfect blend between science fiction and a classic murder mystery of the 1930s and 40s. This is reminiscent of Agatha Christie classics but set on a luxury space cruiser traveling between the moon and mars. I was instantly drawn in by the characters, the plot, and of course, unraveling the mystery. This was my first Mary Robinette Kowal novel, although her Lady Astronauts series has been on my TBR for longer than I care to admit. I cannot WAIT to dive into Kowal's catalog now. Her writing style is approachable, intriguing, and just a fun time! I love that each chapter starts with a cocktail recipe - even if 90% of them involve vermouth (ew) but the Dirty Martini recipe at the end had me rolling with laughter.

I could easily see revisiting this novel in the future for a nice comfort read and honestly, this would make a great movie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for providing me with a digital advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

I love Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series. So I was very excited to be approved for this one. Life is a struggle lately, so I ended up listening to the finished copy of the audiobook. This was a slow story with lots of build up. I liked the characters and the setting was definitely interesting. I don’t know the story that this is a retelling of, but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of this book at all.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for fair and honest review
4-4.5 stars.

MRK has a pretty distinct style, at least based on this book and her Lady Astronauts series (LAS). There is a level of optimism to her work that is heartwarming, but it also takes away some of the edge that we find in some darker stories. That said, MRK does a fairly good job at presenting an almost feel-goodish book while simultaneously keeping the story emotionally compelling.

It certainly isn't my favorite MRK--the LAS has my heart in that aspect. However, this mesh of scifi and mystery was a lot of fun. It isn't what I think of when I consider mystery-thrillers, but it still left me guessing and surprised several times. She is essentially taking a who-done-it on a cruise and putting it in space and in the near future. I like the premise because it is simply another milieu for MRK to delve into the wonderful world of the space sciences.

However, in returning to the space sciences, there is some overlap in the feel and characterization of some the figures in this book and her LAS. I don't agree with some reviews that it's just the same characters. There are similar beats: a competent woman in STEM in a healthy marriage. I'm okay with reusing that because neither of the books are about those things. Rather, I think it's a deliberate act by MRK to show that you don't need your main character to be incompetent or in failing marriage for the story to be compelling (and that such a thing exists), which I wholeheartedly support.

Still, there are other things that make it feel like I can start to see a formula. The most obvious is our protagonists traumatic history and freeze up when seeing fire or flashing lights. It felt a little too cookie-cutter in comparison to Elma (of LAS), who is also perfectly competent but with her one kryptonite: anxiety around public speaking (if I remember correctly). I appreciate the complexity that MRK is going for, but I wish it was a little less obvious how she was developing the characters.

Overall, I really liked the Spare Man. It's not a favorite, but when it comes to mystery's and thrillers, it's one of the most competent I've read. Too often mystery-thrillers go for the most absurd and extravagant sorry lines, but MRK is all about realism (with a hint of optimism :) ) and making the story grounded in reason and facts--which can still be fun! It just takes a bit more effort on the part of the author, and I applaud her for that

4-4.5 star (rounding up to 5 bc I love MRK and I shamelessly want to skew the ratings so more people read this book!)

4.5 stars rounded up

Isolated, closed-circle murder mystery on a glamorous space ship with disability rep! If you're looking for sci-fi with a side of mystery, The Spare Man offers something that feels quite fresh and is a fun read.

Tesla Crane is on a luxurious cruise to Mars for her honeymoon, traveling incognito to avoid the attention her celebrity as a wealthy and brilliant inventor might bring. But when someone turns up dead and her new husband is accused of murder, their honeymoon takes a sharp turn. There's a killer loose on the space ship and Tesla is investigating while also dealing with chronic pain and disability. Also she has an adorable service dog!

I thought this did a fantastic job of delivering both a page-turning mystery, and a thoughtfully built sci-fi world that uses technology in cool ways. There is an author's note at the end discussing the inspiration for some of the tech, including an implant for pain management based on real technology used to treat Parkinsons among others.

Tesla makes for a great heroine and offers a character we don't often get to see- a bright, funny, beautiful woman who is constantly masking the pain she is in, and also dealing with the effects of PTSD including panic attacks. I found it interesting that one of the grounding tools she uses in high-anxiety moments was one I learned from my own therapist. I love seeing this full person using her brains, her privilege, and her body such as it is to protect the man she loves and track down the truth. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think it has potential to be a series, which could be cool. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

When I read the blurb I thought about Nick&Nora, Asta and the 30s light mysteries.
i loved this author's storytelling and loved this mix of space opera and mystery, it well plotted and kept me hooked.
I read it as a sort mystery in the space and had a lot of fun.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

The Spare Man is an amazingly entertaining retro-style mystery set in the future. The Thin Man in Space is the most descriptive tagline, but it's so much more! The mystery is complex and engaging. The characters (including Gimlet, the service dog) are well rounded and the kind of people you desperately want to spend more time with. Each chapter opens with a cocktail recipe tailored for the readers, including zero proof drinks for those who don't perfer alcohol. Every nuance of this book is carefully thought out to creat the most delightful reading experience possible.

Enjoyable, although the middle part seemed to last forever and I could have cared less about quite things? But the murder mystery aspect of it was good and Gimlet was adorable.

Maybe full review to come, I dunno.

I received an ARC from NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this title. All opinions are my own.

I adore Mary Robinette Kowal's writing - her Glamourist Histories are some of my favorite books. Lately, I enoyed the Lady Astronaut series. The Spare Man had me interested until the very end. Tesla and her spouse, Shal, are enjoying some holiday time together and hope to remain incognito. Tesla is a tech superstar and very well known. But, tragedy strikes when a fellow traveler to Mars is murdered and Shal is charged. Tesla goes into detective mode, determined to use her money and status to clear Shal's name and find out the identity of the real perpetrator. It's a high stakes thriller, and includes delicious recipes for cocktails and mocktails.
My only complaint is that it seemed like Tesla could solve almost any problem by throwing money at it, which can become tedious over many occurrences. Additionally, Tesla's disability/chronic pain was also overridden without many consequences actually occurring.
I enjoyed this book so much, and it has great representation of genders and pronouns. I'd love to see more authors take this approach!

I absolutely loved this book. It's a beautiful nod to The Thin Man. Fantastic characters, with great LGBTQ+ rep. A 12 day cruise to Mars and newly wed Tesla and Shal are now trying to find a murder before they reach Mars and they blame Shal for the murder. It's funny and a great murder mystery.

Tesla Crane is a glittering, outer space version of extreme wealth and privilege, tempered by her physical disability and PTSD. The wealth seems like a fair balance to the former issues (if only everyone with a disability had the chance for that sort of repayment for their struggles), and I will forgive the privilege because at least she manages to be aware that it can be used as a bludgeon.

Although, Tesla isn’t above using it as such when the occasion calls for it. Which it does when security on the newlyweds’ stellar cruise liner decides to arrest the first brown man they see in proximity to the crime. Armed with an adorable tiny service dog, several bottles of expensive booze, an even more expensive lawyer, and her dangerously sharp engineering skills, Tesla is determined to force the security team to actually do their job and find the real killer.

With a highly appropriate title and a thoroughly enjoyable mystery, Kowal once again delivers a high-class couple that you can’t help but fall in love with. No condescending “surprise” twists here. You can certainly pinpoint whodunit before the novel is through, but — and I say this with certain pointed looks toward the TV and film industry — that doesn’t make the journey any less thrilling.

Personally, I’m holding onto hope for a sequel.

An intergalactic murder mystery, The Spare Man follows famed heiress and inventor Tesla Crane as she embarks on an incognito honeymoon. When a murder aboard the spaceliner leads to her new spouse being directly implicated, Tesla sets about getting to the bottom of things.

A handful of selling points I particularly enjoyed:
- Classic mystery novel feel with a sci-fi setting
- A very non-binary futuristic society
- Cocktail recipes at the start of each chapter
- Tesla is a disabled protagonist (with PTSD, chronic pain managed with the use of deep brain stimulation and mobility aids, and a tiny service dog named Gimlet whom I love with all my heart)

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for providing this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Tesla, the heiress to the Crane fortune, and Shal, a retired private detective, are enjoying a cruise from Earth to Mars for their honeymoon when a person from the cabin next door is murdered. Shal is immediately identified as the murderer. As more bodies turn up, it is clear that someone is framing him. Can they piece together the clues to find the real killer?

I loved Mary Robinette Kowal's Lady Astronaut series and while this isn't something I would normally pick up I knew I had to try it. It is an interesting mash-up of noir mystery and science fiction.

I loved the intersection of a time period where doll and dame were used for women with a future time period where gender is neutral and non-binary. The setting of a luxury space cruise ship was also awesome. I don't read science fiction often, even though I enjoy watching it, because I have trouble picturing the technology. I didn't have that problem with this book. While there are some high-tech doodads they are all based on things that we are familiar with. The matter printer is similar to our 3D printers. Otherwise, the cruise ship is similar to our cruise ships - it is just traveling through space instead water. Cruises are my favorite type of vacation so I totally loved the vibe the ship gives the novel.

The Spare Man is a closed-door mystery but there are still plenty of suspects among the crew and guests. And when some of the prime suspects wind up dead it just ups the ante and keeps the reader guessing. While the twist might be considered a cop-out by some readers, I still found the story entertaining.

I loved Tesla and Shal and I kind of hope that this is a start of a series because they are a fun couple.

I read a lot of books with recipes but this is the first one that started each chapter with a cocktail recipe. If you are in a book club, you would have a ready-made party with this book. Not all the cocktail recipes contain alcohol so your book club can discuss the book and enjoy sampling the recipes. There is one with cranberry juice and cucumbers that sounds interesting.

If you are looking for a great mystery with a fun cast, then you can't go wrong with Mary Robinette Kowal's latest novel.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Friday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2022/10/the-spare-man-by-mary-robinette-kowal.html

I'm almost as much in love with this new series protagonist (and her dog) as I am with the Lady Astronaut! Oh, I do hope Kowal keeps the mysteries coming!

Tesla Crane has a keen scientific mind, a passionate new husband, and a service dog who is trying desperately to keep her from exacerbating her physical and mental traumas. And now she's got a murder case on her hands, with her husband as the prime suspect.

While this has a very sci-fi setting, the science has basically no involvement in the murder or how the mystery is solved, so don't be scared away if you've only done "real-world" mysteries. You'll have just as much of a chance to figure things out as someone from NASA.

Gimlet is a VERY GOOD DOG.

Whether a fan of sci-fi or mystery, this book is a great pick. And then go back for the Lady Astronaut series, for even more confident, intelligent, unstoppable women!

All Tesla Crane wanted was a quiet honeymoon vacation with her husband. Famed for her vast fortune, her advances in robotics, and a destructive lab accident that damaged her spine, Tesla came on this space cruise to Mars with the hopes of hiding under a false identity and enjoying a pleasant, uneventful voyage. But shortly into the trip, a murder is committed on the ship and Tesla’s husband is arrested as the lead suspect. With ship security convinced the matter is an open and closed case, it’s up to Tesla to prove her husband’s innocence and find the real killer.

THE SPARE MAN is a perfectly serviceable murder mystery in space. Its best feature is lead character Tesla Crane, a determined woman who refuses to be told “No” under any circumstances. While that characteristic drives her to find the real killer on her own, it also, to her detriment, causes her to ignore warning signs from her body, which suffered severe damage years ago in an accident and is held together with metal rods and a neural bot that can suppress pain responses. Tesla has a habit of turning up the pain dampening past the safeties in order to be more effective, which is never framed as a good thing, but also is never really given severe consequences. Regardless, Tesla is a disabled heroine who has learned to navigate the world (mostly) within her new limits, and frequently has to deal with PTSD flashbacks from the accident itself.

The plot itself is fine and will be recognizable to fans of THE THIN MAN by Dashiell Hammett (as well as the classic movie adaptation), though with the focus on the female half of the crime-solving duo rather than the husband. There’s plenty of red herrings that will keep you guessing about the identity of the murderer, and plenty of suspects with their own hidden motivations.

My biggest complaint about the story is the incompetency of the lead security officer on the ship. Now I know in murder mystery fiction this is often a feature, not a bug of the story, a reason why the protagonist has to investigate things for themselves. But besides blindly ignoring evidence, the lead security officer was a sexist scumbag, in stark contrast to the rest of this near future society, which is queernormative and includes pronoun exchanges in all introductions. I know that there will always be awful people and that this security guard probably exists to highlight how society has evolved, but juxtaposed with the other people on the ship, he was just gratingly anachronistic. Your mileage may vary on whether or not this character bothers you – I always have a hard time with incompetent people.

THE SPARE MAN falls into that difficult-to-review middling category of book. For a person in the mood for a murder mystery with a fun twist, this will be just the ticket. The advanced technology the characters use to communicate and investigate add a new flavor to the story. I did enjoy the comedic layer of Tesla attempting to have conversations with her lawyer on Earth, as the distance of the ship from the planet caused delayed responses, with answers to questions coming well after they were originally asked. Tesla’s struggle with her physical and post-traumatic disabilities do give her some depth (as well as an adorable service dog). But at the end of the day, this is a book that, while enjoyable, just isn’t memorable.

Tesla Crane, heiress and inventor, is on a honeymoon cruise to Mars with her new husband when a murder interrupts her luxury vacation. When she and her husband are targeted as suspects, Tesla uses her brains, privilege, and her cute service dog to investigate. Though the solution makes very little sense, the investigation is fun and the cocktail recipes that begin each chapter are very cute. If a cozy mystery were set in space, The Spare Man would be it. Excellent disability representation, even though the politics are mired in the present day despite the future setting.

That was a fun read. I haven’t read absolutely everything this author has written but I’ve read much of it. This was a charming cozy mystery set on a space cruise ship. The heroine is on her honeymoon, having to cope with ptsd and severe injuries, and her husband is accused of a murder. The setting feels a bit over the top but I expect actual cruise ships are pretty over the top too…. I enjoyed the mystery with the exception of one character who was unhelpful to the point it seemed pretty obvious they weren’t a great human being. On the whole though a fun read!

This is a wild read! The story is twisty, exciting , at times exasperating and a lot of fun. Mx. Crane and her husband Mx Steward are newlyweds and because she is famous they have joined this cruise to Mars under assumed IDs and disguises so that they won't be recognized. They venture out to karaoke but on their way back to their cabin a woman is attacked in the hallway and Mx Steward chases the assailant. The Security Chief arrests Mx Steward for the murder and a whole snowball of trouble occurs as Mx. Crane tries to exonerate her husband. There are all kinds of things that complicate this story: the fact that Mx Steward is a detective in real life and plays one on TV; the fact that Mx. Crane is disabled by a previous accident requiring a pain management device and has a real service dog and there are a lot of other people who are not exactly who they say they are.
The book is filled with cocktail recipes for added fun. Adding to the confusion for me was the use of personal pronouns attached to everyone's name (he, him; she, her; they, them etc.)
This book was so much fun to read, I highly recommend it.

"The Thin Man" in space. Murder on a starliner. What's not to love?

I liked it, but I didn't love it, unlike Kowal's Glamourist and Lady Astronaut series. The heroine, Tesla Crane, frankly annoyed me. There was not enough of the lightness of The Thin Man, but there were constant references to drinking, occasionally witty banter, and, of course, the obligatory adorable dog, Gimlet.

I wanted to like Tesla. She survived a horrific accident and suffers from chronic pain, and suffers from PTSD. I admit, I'm not sure how I'd behave were my husband to be implicated in a murder while we were on our honeymoon, but she states that she refrains from using her fame to bully people, and then does precisely that. She puts herself in danger unnecessarily, and seems more to luck into puzzling things out than in actual deduction. The red herrings were more pink, and the story dragged in places.

This book will appeal to many readers, but it just didn't work for me.

2.75 out of 5 stars.

I received an advance reader copy from Tor and NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Some things I liked:

-Gimlet, the dog
-Shal, the husband
-Tesla, the wife/main character + PTSD & disability rep

You might like this if:
-you like dogs and dog people
-you like gin drinks
-you like sci-fi space vacation mysteries
-you like a lot of red herrings

This book had A LOT going on. More red herrings than I could keep track of. I felt the mystery fell flat due to the amount of under developed characters, the incompetency of just about everyone in charge was distracting, lots of science jargon that was difficult to picture and understand the significance of. Character histories did not feel fleshed out enough either, Tesla’s and Shal’s backgrounds especially since they’re the main couple. I enjoyed there relationship to an extent, but even that came up a bit emptier. Tesla spent most of the novel alone, trying to play detective, and I was honestly just so confused like all of the time.

I also have been seeing reviews about Tesla being “spoiled” or “rude”, and I honestly think she wasn’t rude enough. Every interaction she had with the security crew on board I was waiting for her to rip them the new one they all deserved, and the satisfaction never came.

There were a lot of names and small details mentioned that had zero relevance to the mystery plot. I enjoy knowing that in mysteries everything is written or mentioned for a reason, and I didn’t get that from this one.

The Thin Man in space!...Okay not exactly, but a mystery with a lot of possible suspects, a "Nora" named Tesla who is true to the spirit of the Nora of the novel (if more proactive), and a perfect little pup. This was a super-fun book and I did not guess even half the twists and turns.