Murder out of the Blue

Murder out of the Blue is a light entertaining read. I easily finished it in three days. It is about half the length of the average full size fiction work.

This steampunk story is set in an alternate world of English empire, at maybe the late 1800s. There is heavier than air travel and even space travel. The story is completely set on an airship traveling from Africa to India.

The heroine is a young Indian woman who is a first class passenger and a well-to-do citizen of the empire, but who faces prejudice because of her skin color.

The prejudice facing Maliha Anderson is well handled and feels realistic. One odd thing I noticed in the book, after I finished was that every character who had alternative gender preferences came to a bad end. Three characters who were gay, and had alternate livestyles were punished or came to a bad end in the book.

This is a well done steampunk book that is a quick read and a fun murder mystery with a smart and heroic female amateur sleuth. I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.