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Matters Arising from the Identification of the Body: A Guerline Scarfe Investigation by Simon Petrie
eastofthesunwestofthemoon's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this short investigative tale set on Titan. I thought the world-building was quite believable, and the world felt real as a backdrop, but also took center stage at times and worked. Scarfe is an interesting character who I look forward to reading more about. The mystery is well thought out and worked for me. I did feel that some of her personal backstory was presented in a somewhat confusing manner, but near the end we did get some relevant information and I'm hoping for more clarity there in future stories.
cmbohn's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
I'm a big nerd when it comes to space. I don't know a lot, but I love stories set in space, science fiction stories, and stuff like that. I also love mysteries. When I got asked to review a book that had both, I couldn't resist.
Guerline Scarfe - what a name - is the equivalent of a police officer sometime in the future. She's been asked to investigate a suicide. It looks like a pretty straightforward case, but she is a thorough officer and figures that any death deserves an explanation.
I'm a big nerd when it comes to space. I don't know a lot, but I love stories set in space, science fiction stories, and stuff like that. I also love mysteries. When I got asked to review a book that had both, I couldn't resist.
Guerline Scarfe - what a name - is the equivalent of a police officer sometime in the future. She's been asked to investigate a suicide. It looks like a pretty straightforward case, but she is a thorough officer and figures that any death deserves an explanation.
anna_hepworth's review against another edition
5.0
Disclaimer: I have read this book as part of the judging process for the Aurealis Awards.
This review is my personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the panel, the judging co-ordinator, or the Aurealis Awards management team.
I loved this story. The world-building is fabulously detailed, but only trickles out in such manners that it supports the story. The characterisation is controlled, and compelling. The plot and the pacing are finely tuned suspense of investigation of an apparent suicide that becomes so much more. Good hard SF/SF in space fiction, good gritty detective fiction.
This review is my personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the panel, the judging co-ordinator, or the Aurealis Awards management team.
I loved this story. The world-building is fabulously detailed, but only trickles out in such manners that it supports the story. The characterisation is controlled, and compelling. The plot and the pacing are finely tuned suspense of investigation of an apparent suicide that becomes so much more. Good hard SF/SF in space fiction, good gritty detective fiction.
barbarahowe's review
5.0
In this novella by New Zealand-born author Simon Petrie, hard science fiction intersects with another of my favourite genres, crime fiction. In a mining colony on Titan, Saturn’s moon, a young woman, Tanja Morgenstein, walks out of an air lock and takes off her helmet. Psychologist Guerline Scarfe is simply doing her job, as required by the local law, in investigating the reasons for Tanja’s suicide. She is not, at first, overly surprised by Tanja’s wealthy parents’ resistance—they are, after all, in shock over losing their daughter—but her concern grows as she probes deeper and their hostility turns to threats.
Throw in a dead brother, a traumatised boyfriend, pressure from Gureline’s boss to drop the investigation, and a nail-biting nighttime flight across Titan’s frozen landscape, and you have a classic detective story with a savage, high-tech twist. It’s no surprise to me that the story won this year’s Sir Julius Vogel award for Best Novella. I look forward to reading more about Guerline Scarfe.
This review was first posted on This Need To Read
Throw in a dead brother, a traumatised boyfriend, pressure from Gureline’s boss to drop the investigation, and a nail-biting nighttime flight across Titan’s frozen landscape, and you have a classic detective story with a savage, high-tech twist. It’s no surprise to me that the story won this year’s Sir Julius Vogel award for Best Novella. I look forward to reading more about Guerline Scarfe.
This review was first posted on This Need To Read
tsana's review
5.0
Matters Arising From the Identification of the Body by Simon Petrie is a science fiction crime novella set on Titan. It follows a public investigator looking into the suicide of a young woman who opened her own helmet and exposed herself to Titan's atmosphere.
Scarfe's job is investigate the suicide and the reasons leading up to it. It's told as a police procedural with a solid science fictional setting as a back drop. Petrie has written several stories set on Titan (see my reviews of his short story collections, Rare Unsigned Copy and Difficult Second Album) but I got the impression that this version of Titan was more populated and hence the story is probably set a bit further into the future than those other stories.
As expected, the scientific background is something Petrie gets spot on in this novella. As well as a well-developed setting, I appreciated the additional layers to Scarf's life. She wasn't solely focussed on her job, she also had a family and a back story that wasn't directly related to her job or this particular case, which I appreciated. Matters Arising From the Identification of the Body was fully fleshed out, for all that it was a novella and didn't take me very long to read.
As far as the crime aspect went, I pretty much only read speculative fiction crime so my opinion is a little coloured by that. This ticked all my boxes though. The mystery elements were intrinsically tied to the science fictional setting and the "solution" followed logically from what the reader had been presented with. I did guess one aspect of the resolution, but not the full explanation, which was handled well, in my opinion.
I highly recommend Matters Arising From the Identification of the Body to fans of science fiction and mystery/crime stories. It is both a procedural and science fiction, but I expect it will appeal more to fans of the latter genre than the former. This was also a more series story than Petrie's other mystery series set on a space elevator, which is significantly more tongue-in-cheek. I am looking forward to reading more stories about Scarfe and set on Titan.
4.5 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
Scarfe's job is investigate the suicide and the reasons leading up to it. It's told as a police procedural with a solid science fictional setting as a back drop. Petrie has written several stories set on Titan (see my reviews of his short story collections, Rare Unsigned Copy and Difficult Second Album) but I got the impression that this version of Titan was more populated and hence the story is probably set a bit further into the future than those other stories.
As expected, the scientific background is something Petrie gets spot on in this novella. As well as a well-developed setting, I appreciated the additional layers to Scarf's life. She wasn't solely focussed on her job, she also had a family and a back story that wasn't directly related to her job or this particular case, which I appreciated. Matters Arising From the Identification of the Body was fully fleshed out, for all that it was a novella and didn't take me very long to read.
As far as the crime aspect went, I pretty much only read speculative fiction crime so my opinion is a little coloured by that. This ticked all my boxes though. The mystery elements were intrinsically tied to the science fictional setting and the "solution" followed logically from what the reader had been presented with. I did guess one aspect of the resolution, but not the full explanation, which was handled well, in my opinion.
I highly recommend Matters Arising From the Identification of the Body to fans of science fiction and mystery/crime stories. It is both a procedural and science fiction, but I expect it will appeal more to fans of the latter genre than the former. This was also a more series story than Petrie's other mystery series set on a space elevator, which is significantly more tongue-in-cheek. I am looking forward to reading more stories about Scarfe and set on Titan.
4.5 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
calissa's review
3.0
Matters Arising from the Identification of the Body is a hard sci-fi crime novella. It starts off with the suicide of a wealthy heiress, but the book is as much about the author's vision of Titan's settlement as it is about the mystery.
Usually, I'm not particularly fond of hard sci-fi and there were elements of the genre present in Matters Arising that didn't appeal to me. In particular, I found the language more academic than emotive, which created a distance from the characters. However, the story went some way towards mitigating that by giving the main character a family life of sorts. Seeing her struggle with her personal relationships helped humanise Guerline. Her focus and dedication to her work is shown as both a virtue and a character flaw.
The details of daily life also helped make Guerline relatable. We get to see her make long commutes, grouch at missed flights and travel delays, and engage in online research and recreation. These details also do a clever double duty, showing what it's like to live on Titan in a way that feels natural. It also fits in with the detail-oriented nature of procedural crime.
The drawback to this approach is that it can feel a bit slow-paced. There's no real sense of urgency until Guerline's final trip home. However, the short chapters help to counterbalance this.
Another thing I was pleased to see was how diverse the cast was. It's something I'm not used to seeing in hard sci-fi... though it should be said my experience with the genre is very limited, especially when it comes to modern examples.
All in all, Matters Arising from the Identification of the Body was a solid read and while not exactly my cup of tea, I'd definitely recommend it to lovers of hard sci-fi.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The author is a friend. I have done my best to give an unbiased review.
This review first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.
Usually, I'm not particularly fond of hard sci-fi and there were elements of the genre present in Matters Arising that didn't appeal to me. In particular, I found the language more academic than emotive, which created a distance from the characters. However, the story went some way towards mitigating that by giving the main character a family life of sorts. Seeing her struggle with her personal relationships helped humanise Guerline. Her focus and dedication to her work is shown as both a virtue and a character flaw.
The details of daily life also helped make Guerline relatable. We get to see her make long commutes, grouch at missed flights and travel delays, and engage in online research and recreation. These details also do a clever double duty, showing what it's like to live on Titan in a way that feels natural. It also fits in with the detail-oriented nature of procedural crime.
The drawback to this approach is that it can feel a bit slow-paced. There's no real sense of urgency until Guerline's final trip home. However, the short chapters help to counterbalance this.
Another thing I was pleased to see was how diverse the cast was. It's something I'm not used to seeing in hard sci-fi... though it should be said my experience with the genre is very limited, especially when it comes to modern examples.
All in all, Matters Arising from the Identification of the Body was a solid read and while not exactly my cup of tea, I'd definitely recommend it to lovers of hard sci-fi.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The author is a friend. I have done my best to give an unbiased review.
This review first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.
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