Loved, loved this book. I love a good mystery novel, and by that what I mean is, I love books with likeable leads who are sleuths. It's very specific! It's about the detectives!! Because if I were here for just a mystery, there's a bit of deus ex machina in the final killer, which I generally am not not into - it adds extra to a story way too close to the ending, and makes you feel like the author's trying to one-up you instead of allowing you to keep guessing.

But okay. On the other hand, I HAD A BLAST with this book. Tesla is a wonderful lead, good backstory and incredible moxie. Shal is the dreamiest detective romance hero, exactly what I want in all my mysteries. Watching them work through the crime and their various injuries and love for each other was wonderful, especially as I do LOVE an established and unquestionably adoring couple.

The scene-setting is fantastic - great, vibrant characters overall, all on a spaceship in a galaxy far away. Despite how much we had to learn about everything at once, I didn't feel overwhelmed, and loved being able to understand the universe at my own pace. Also, much like Becky Chambers' space stuff, I really loved this version of the future: inclusive and inquisitive, full of really fun science and even time quirks.

I would read a hundred more Shal and Tesla books. I adored the time I spent in this one.