The Tea Master and the Detective
Once, the mindship known as The Shadow’s Child was a military transport, carrying troops and crew for a war that tore the Empire apart. Until an ambush killed her crew and left her wounded and broken. Now the war is over, and The Shadow’s Child, surviving against all odds, has run away. Discharged and struggling to make a living, she has no plans to go back into space. Until the abrasive and arrogant scholar Long Chau comes to see her. Long Chau wants to retrieve a corpse for her scientific studies: a simple enough, well-paid assignment. But when the corpse they find turns out to have been murdered, the simple assignment becomes a vast and tangled investigation, inexorably leading back to the past—and, once again, to that unbearable void where The Shadow’s Child almost lost both sanity and life…
Reviews
“This slim volume packs a visceral punch. Absorbing prose pulls readers into the dark, frigid space between stars, where ships can fail, physically and emotionally, as easily as people.”
“...a window onto a beautifully developed world that widens the meaning of space opera, one that centers on Chinese and Vietnamese cultures and customs instead of Western military conventions, and is all the more welcome for it.”
“…De Bodard constructs a convincingly gritty setting and a pair of unique characters with provocative histories and compelling motivations. The story works as well as both science fiction and murder mystery, exploring a future where pride, guilt, and mercy are not solely the province of humans.”
“This is a really satisfying story, deeply invested in choosing to do the right thing – and in the importance of kindness.”Locus
"THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE is the Sherlock Holmes retelling I always wanted and now I have it. And I want so much more of it."
"[A] well-imagined alternate future history… This futuristic Holmes and Watson story is as compelling as the finely detailed universe in which it unfolds, but the novella’s real triumph is that it makes the reader crave more even before setting the stage for further mysteries."
"A science-fictional ode to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, where the Holmes figure is a sharp and biting disgraced aristocratic scholar with a solid core of empathy, and the Watson-figure is a mindship with post-traumatic stress disorder from her war experiences… This is a measured, almost stately story, right up until a conclusion that explodes in fast-paced tension. It preserves the empathy and the intensity of the original Sherlockian stories, while being told in de Bodard’s sharp prose and modern style. The worldbuilding… sparkles. The characters have presence: they’re individual and compelling. And it ends it a way that recalls the original Holmes and Watson, while being perfectly appropriate to itself."
"The mystery, the world, and the characters are a perfect blend, and I absolutely want more of these two"Fantasy & Science Fiction
"De Bodard’s worldbuilding is precise and glittering, elegant and atmospheric… writing is always full of empathy and personality… a lovely little character-focused mystery, and everything about it delights…"
"The book packs a remarkable amount of worldbuilding into a compact package ... but it’s the characters who will really stick with you. We can only hope we’ll be following Long Chau and The Shadow’s Child on another case soon."
“A unique and enchanting reading experience.”
"An astonishing Holmesian mystery, in which Holmes is a woman and Watson is a spaceship. It is everything I wanted it to be. Tea, space, and mysteries within mysteries."Mary Robinette Kowal
"This philosophical thriller is beautifully steeped in de Bodard’s Xuya universe. ... Set against a background of dramatic family politics, teas, and high-tech bots, THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE is a distinct pleasure for discerning readers."Fran Wilde
"It’s difficult to know where to start with the reasons to read THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE, there is such an embarrassment of riches. The world, the situation, the delicious idea of a ship playing a particularly intelligent and suspicious Watson to a very secretive female Holmes, the prose that glitters with imagery without once becoming overbearing. Briefly, it’s de Bodard firing on all cylinders, and that should be enough for anyone."Jonathan L. Howard
"Aliette de Bodard’s new novella in her Xuya universe is a terrific piece of writing, taking the sentient community of ships from Ian Bank’s Culture series, the glittering belt of space habitats from Alistair Reynolds’ Prefect novels, and adding in a compelling pair as the title characters."
"The story is the sort that is a joy to read and is highly imaginative. It will be on my Short List for Best Novella Hugo next year. Highly recommended."
"… a novella of superior quality and a wonderful way to spend an hour. Aliette De Bodard truly does have the best ideas."
Awards & Accolades
2019 Nebula Award Winner
2019 British Fantasy Award Winner
2019 Hugo Award Finalist
2019 Locus Award Finalist
2019 World Fantasy Award Finalist