Requiem for a Good Machine is the first Song & Waterbird cyberpunk mystery by Daniel Claymore. Released 17th Aug 2022, it's 282 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.
This is a cyberpunk noir SF cop procedural murder mystery set in the mean streets of future city Mirabilis. Officer Leo Song is, unusually, fully human and whose partner is a machine called Detective Waterbird. This future is one where the machines have taken (benevolent(ish)) control of everything and humans are more or less superfluous. A violent double homicide sees the pair trying to solve both the immediate murders and the underlying setup/frame for the murders before a human revolution is set in motion.
It's not derivative in any way, but stylistically it reminded me a lot of Philip K. Dick and Dashiell Hammett with a little William Gibson and Earl/Otto Binder in the mix for good measure. It's definitely exalted company, and it stands strongly on its own merits.
Four stars. Highly recommended for fans of hard SF mystery.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
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