Review: Murder by Other Means by John Scalzi

The Dispatcher 2 Murder by Other Means by John Scalzi

John Scalzi’s Dispatcher stories read a lot like Isaac Asimov’s famous I, Robot collection. In Asimov’s tales, the robots appear to do something that violates the three laws of robotics and the trick to the story is to figure out why they didn’t violate them. In Scalzi’s tale, murders appear to violate the understanding of the new rule of death—people who are murdered wake up alive and naked in their homes 999 out of 1000 times.

 

In Murder by Other Means, Scalzi’s protagonist, Tony Valdez, is pulled into a mystery in which people with no reason to commit suicide are killing themselves. The common denominator appears to be Valdez, himself, and since the police seem to be focusing exclusively upon him as their suspect, Valdez has to solve the case to protect himself. It’s a very good story and continues to show how crazy the world has become after this mind-boggling change is introduced. I really like the story and I’m very proud of myself for figuring out very quickly how the murders were being committed. As in all well written mysteries, that didn’t dampen my enjoyment at all. There are always tons of little details to fill in and it’s the journey that gives a good mystery its reread value—something this story definitely has.

 

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