Station Eternity

Station Eternity
By Mur Lafferty

Mallory Viridian isn’t the kind of person you want to get too close to. She’s the carrier of a weird kind of “murder virus,” which means that wherever she goes someone nearby ends up being killed.

Such a fatal penumbra leads Mallory to become a mystery writer. She’s also the perfect host for a new series by Mur Lafferty (the Midsolar Murders), of which Station Eternity is the first volume.

Aware of her dangerous condition, Mallory takes a lonely, and lowly, job at the sentient space station Eternity, where she is one of only a few human on board. She figures this should keep the death rate manageable, but her plans for self-quarantine go out the window when a shuttle of visitors arrives at Eternity, with many of its passengers already dead. It seems murder has followed Mallory into space. Now, as the bodies start to pile up, she’s in charge of finding out what’s going on.

It’s a good mystery, presented in a light-hearted way and with a bit of a YA flavour, but the real treats here are the fascinating aliens, including a swarm of wasp-like creatures called the Sundry and a race of rock creatures known as Gneiss. Luckily for Mallory they seem to like her, as she’ll need all the help she can get.