Nobody’s Baby (Dorothy Gentleman #2)
written by Olivia Waite
narrated by Blair Baker
My Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Science Fiction Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: f/f
Blurb:
Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in the second entry of this cozy sci-fi mystery series, helmed by a formidable no-nonsense auntie of a detective.Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.
A wild baby appears! Dorothy Gentleman, ship’s detective, is put to the test once again when an infant is mysteriously left on her nephew’s doorstep. Fertility is supposed to be on pause during the Fairweather’s journey across the stars—but humans have a way of breaking any rule you set them. Who produced this child, and why did they then abandon him? And as her nephew and his partner get more and more attached, how can Dorothy prevent her colleague and rival detective, Leloup, a stickler for law and order, from classifying the baby as a stowaway or a piece of luggage?
Told from Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, this novella series is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take—perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie.
My Review
I really liked the first book in this series, so I bought book 2 in audio once I finished the first book and then two months or so after listening to the first book got around to listening to this one. I have to say I didn’t enjoy Nobody’s baby as much as the first book, as the baby mystery didn’t appeal to me as much as the mystery in the first book, but besides that it still has a lot of the elements I enjoyed in the first book.
Nobody’s Baby follows Dorothy Gentleman, a ship’s detective aboard a space ship, as she investigates another mystery. The passengers aboard the Fairweather can’t procreate, they all get re-embodied as they die, thus keeping the population stable until they reach their new home planet. So when Dorothy’s nephew finds a baby on his doorstep Dorothy is there to figure out what happened.
This mystery didn’t hook me as much as the first one. It felt kinda straightforward and less interesting than the first book’s mystery. I also just don’t like reading about babies so that also influenced my enjoyment. The mystery had some more twists toward the end, but it still didn’t come close to the first book’s mystery for me. I also thought the big reveal with Dorothy explaining the whole mystery at the end felt kinda cliché, but it was effective. I did like the resolution and this mystery poses some interesting questions about the whole re-embodying process as well as about the rights of this new baby that shouldn’t be able to exist according to their current laws and I found that part interesting. I did have even more questions about how this baby would grow up, but maybe we get to see more of that in the next book.
I did have a great time spending more time aboard this ship and with these characters. I like reading about Dorothy and there’s some slight romance development as well for her. And Dorothy’s connection with her nephew was great to see again. We also get to see more of The Bureau where Dorothy works. And the whole setup for this book with the ship were everyone gets re-embodied after they die is such an interesting concept. I like the cozy scifi vibes and wish this genre would get more popular as it’s such a fun combination of genres. The narrator was great again and I enjoyed listening to it. It’s a short listen again, but this one is a bit longer than the first book. The pace is pretty well done with every scene feeling relevant and despite not being as invested in the mystery I got through this one quickly and enjoyed listening to it.
To summarize: I enjoyed returning to this series and follow Dorothy for another mystery aboard the Fairweather space ship. The mystery in this one wasn’t as interesting to me as the first book’s mystery, I thought the twist and reveals were less well done and I don’t like reading about babies so that also contributed to me not finding this one as enjoyable as book 1. Despite that I still mostly enjoyed listening to this one, I like the characters and the cozy scifi vibes are spot on. The concept of this series is very intriguing and I am excited to see there will be another book in the series.
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