The Spare Man is a locked room mystery set on a cruise line spaceship headed for Mars. It's by the same author who writes the Lady Astronaut Universe alternative history sci‑fi series. I enjoyed it mainly because of the audiobook’s narration. The author reads it herself and sounds like she has a lot of fun doing it. ( )

I love a good mystery story, and a mystery on a spaceship is even better. The protagonist is on her honeymoon and must prove her husband is innocent. It is refreshing to read a novel that makes it natural to introduce yourself and add your pronouns. Each chapter offers a cocktail and mocktail recipe. ( )

Kowal never disappoints! Few authors can carry off a mash-up of science fiction and mystery. But Kowal does it with a tight whodunnit, interesting characters, and cocktail recipes. ( )

The main characters are heavy drinkers who love each other dearly.
Every chapter header is a cocktail recipe, and half of those cocktails get ordered during the story in the course of the main characters trying to get information from bartenders (or just because they're thirsty).
We're on a pleasure cruise to mars.
There's a MURDER. ( )

I liked the Lady Astronaut series, and this promised to be like that with a little less hard science, so I was eager to pick it up. But I didn’t like it at all.

It’s a “cozy mystery”. Kind of like Death on the Nile or some other old-timey Sam Spade detective novel. Reading was frustrating because I kept waiting for them to get to the next uncovered clue. It always seemed like the story was padding itself in-between plot points, which was frustrating. Like the book itself was practicing delayed gratification. And in the last chapter, it’s like the characters don’t even care that they went through all this trauma. They’re not changed.

The text. Is. Repetitive. And it’s repetitive over two things. One is that the main character has a back injury and she’s constantly talking about her chronic pain. Every page she’s turning up or down the “pain management system” she’s got implanted. By the end, she must look like all the Rolling Stones AND Motley Crue put together.

The other thing is that she is on a honeymoon cruise with her husband (who’s an actual detective but he’s the suspect). And they are so lovey-dovey with each other I think I got a cavity. It’s obnoxious. This girl is high maintenance. She always needs her dog with her, she’s always suffering from PTSD. But I’m not the audience for this book. I almost stopped reading a few times, but I kept going because I thought it might be like Terraforming Romance. I was very glad when it was done. At least, I don’t have to like it to use it as a comp. ( )