Investigator Mossa is researching the disappearance of a man, and when she follows his trail it leads to Valdegeld and her former girlfriend, a scholar of pre--collapse earth ecosystems. Pleiti is working towards the long-term goal of returning humanity to earth, hopefully doing less damage this time. The two of them have to work together and possibly find out what drove them apart to solve the puzzle and everything might change.

It's an interesting exploration of a possible future when humanity has to find somewhere else to live and how society might change when humanity lives abov a gas giant. it didn't engage me completely but I found it intersting. ( )

The setting is really original and cool, and I really wanted to root for the two protagonists and their relationship. And the mystery plot is interesting and resolves in a satisfying way. But something about the writing just didn't quite fit comfortably for my brain, and everything just felt a bit detached. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2024/04/2024054-mimicking-of-known-successes.html ( )

For me, it needed a bit more world building at the front-end (a better use of Prologue, if one needs one at all). For a novella, I spent too much time trying to "see" the environment, scaffolding the information around the mystery, which drew me out of the story. The characters, though, are very interesting and I would be interested in reading more of their adventures. ( )

I enjoyed the idea of a Watson/Holmes-like pair of women on a remote moon investigating a murder in a university setting. ( )