A review of Murder on Muritai by Genesis Cotterell

Overview

Murder on Muritai by Genesis Cottrell is ostensibly a sci-fi murder mystery novel set on Muritai Island, a fictional island off the coast of NZ. I say ostensibly because apart from a significant portion of the characters being alien, the book could easily have been written with non-sci-fi themes, and so should be enjoyable to all.

Murder on Muritai follows a budding private eye, Curtis McCoy, on his first case – the death of a ‘Ryxian’ man in a fiery car crash. McCoy is employed by the man’s widow, who believes his death to be the result of foul play.

Book cover by Genesis Cotterell

As this book is the first in an expected trilogy, a lot of pages are devoted to world-building. The aliens are known as Ryxin, and are refugees who fled to earth after their own planet was destroyed. They live openly among the human population, first settling in Ireland at the start of the 20th century, but having since emigrated across the globe. Culturally, a lot of their customs are Gaelic in nature, having adopted much of their first homelands culture.

Curtis McCoy is an easy-going and relatable character and is also half alien. He is a fairly fallible chap and seems to fall into sticky situations easily because of his small-town naivety.

The plot follows McCoy as he unwillingly unbundles a growing conspiracy with his case at the centre of it all.

What I liked

The reason I wanted to read Murder on Muritai was its setting. Because most sci-fi is written by American or British authors, you rarely get to see the places and names you grew up with represented in the stories you read. Although Muritai is a fictional island, it really could have been any small town in New Zealand. The weariness of strangers, disdain for authority, and low-key sense of humour are all part of the New Zealand small-town psyche. It was fun to see these attitudes play out in a sci-fi novel.

It was also hard not to compare the themes of race and colonialism in the book with New Zealand’s own history. Eugenics, property and political power have all come to bear in New Zealand’s history at one point or another, and these themes are explored in Murder on Muritai.

Having the alien’s openly live on Earth was also really fun. Not many works follow this concept, and so added a sense of freshness to the book.

Cotterell’s writing style is sparse and very easy to read. The book itself is relatively short, so if you are looking for an easy Sunday read I would recommend it. Murder on Muritai is Cottrell’s first published works, and sometimes fall’s into the same trap a lot of sci-fi writers find themselves in - telling rather than showing. This is most evident with the world building. In saying that, it’s a common complaint of mine for the genre as a whole and is often needed to help non-genre readers along.It is also more common in the first book of a trilogy, such as this one.

If you would like to read MURDER ON MURITAI (THE RYXIN TRILOGY - BOOK ONE), you can find it on Amazon.