Tannat

This novella is being touted as being a story with a female Sherlock Holmes with a mindship (starship with bio-engineered human interface at its core) as her Watson. It's not quite that blatant, but the comparison is apt. Long Chau is an arrogant consulting detective who self medicates. The Shadow's Child is contracted to provide a service and helps her with her case.

I loved how the novella forces the reader to get dumped in headfirst, and I thought the worldbuilding was well done. This story does take place in the Xuya universe with a futuristic Vietnamese-influenced Empire but reading the other stories in that universe isn't necessary. There was also humour and banter in the exchanges between the mindship and Long Chau and the other characters.

The only downer (and what negated the need for me to dither about whether to give this five stars) is an error that I'm going to lay at the publisher's proofreaders' and editors' feet: the confusion of "to deduct" with "to deduce" when it comes to deductions.

Long Chau shook her head. “I deducted based on available information. Not the same.”
The Shadow’s Child said, stubbornly, “Tell me why.”
“See if you can deduct it,” Long Chau said, as she headed inside. Her tone made it clear she didn’t expect The Shadow’s Child to manage that.

Boo.

Otherwise it was a great quick read, and I hope we get to see more adventures with Long Chau and The Shadow's Child.

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