Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café by Richard Dee Published by 4Star Scifi on June 15, 2017
Source: Rachel's Random Resources
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Science Fiction
Pages: 234
Format: eBook
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Meet Andorra Pett; with her trusty sidekick, she's taken over a derelict cafe. On a mining station. It just happens to be orbiting Saturn! She's hoping for a fresh start, away from all the drama of her old life. It's a chance to relax and start again in a place where nobody knows anything about her or her past.
But the cafe holds a secret, and secrets have a habit of coming out; whether you want them to or not. And being accident prone doesn't help. The more you try to pretend that you know what's going on, the worse it gets.
Andorra's plans for peace and quiet get lost amid the revelations and skulduggery and she soon realises that the fate of the whole station lies in her hapless hands.
In space, you can still trip over your feet; the question is, will you land upright?
Andorra Pett and her side-kick Cy have left behind their man-troubles on Earth and settled on a mining station off Saturn. They’re going to make a go at running the little cafe, but there’s just one problem – the body in the freezer. Apparently the old owner never actually left. And, since this is a cozy mystery, Andorra has to decide to investigate herself, instead of leaving it to the security force. Her reason is somewhat legit. The owner of the diner, the cafe’s only competition, is a bit of a mob boss with ties to everything and everyone and he might be just as happy if she ended up being charged with the murder.
I like the whole set up, the station is full of interesting characters, some more quirky than others. Andorra gathers a group of fabulous friends to help her and Cy out at the cafe and show them the ropes of living on the station. She also gets a love interest, typical for cozies, but it doesn’t take over the story. We learn some of how the station works and the internal struggles over which is more important, the mining or the farming. The farm, by the way, is amazing – they have bunnies! There’s a bit of violence and some tense situtaion, but it stays light-hearted.
The station is essentially a small town and everyone has their secrets and agendas, and of course, Andorra’s digging puts her and Cy in danger. The old owner had a notebook full of secrets and everyone wants to get ahold of it. The plot is good, with plenty of suspects and clues, and I did not guess who the killer was.
This was truly enjoyable mystery/sc-fi novel. I’ll be looking forward to Andorra Pett’s next adventure.
About Richard Dee
Richard Dee is a native of Brixham in Devon, England. He left Devon in his teens and travelled the world in the Merchant Navy, qualifying as a Master Mariner in 1986.
Coming ashore to be with his growing family, he flirted with various jobs, including Dockmaster, Marine Insurance Surveyor and Port Control Officer, finally becoming a Thames Pilot over twenty years ago.
He recently returned to live in Brixham, where he has taken up Science Fiction writing and blogging. He retired from pilotage in 2015.
He publish through his own imprint, 4Star Scifi, named in homage to my wife and three grown daughters.
Thank you for getting involved in my blog tour. Thanks for taking the time to read and review my book, I’m so glad you liked it. The sequel, “Andorra Pett on Mars” will be published in April.
I’ll be looking forward to it.
That is a cool cozy 😀
I really enjoyed it. I loved the setting, it made it different, but still a cozy.