Book Club “The Mimicking of Known Successes”
For January, we decided to start the new year off with something futuristic and chose a sci-fi / cozy mystery mashup. We looked forward to this noir-esque mystery set on Jupiter.
Book
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
Description:
The Mimicking of Known Successes presents a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set on Jupiter, by Malka Older, author of the critically-acclaimed Centenal Cycle.
On a remote, gas-wreathed outpost of a human colony on Jupiter, a man goes missing. The enigmatic Investigator Mossa follows his trail to Valdegeld, home to the colony’s erudite university—and Mossa’s former girlfriend, a scholar of Earth’s pre-collapse ecosystems.
Pleiti has dedicated her research and her career to aiding the larger effort towards a possible return to Earth. When Mossa unexpectedly arrives and requests Pleiti’s assistance in her latest investigation, the two of them embark on a twisting path in which the future of life on Earth is at stake—and, perhaps, their futures, together.
Club
Snack suggestions:
This is an opportunity to let your imagination fun free for futuristic snacks! If you want to provide “protein cylinders with flavoring”, you’re welcome to!
We opted for rings of food (including onion rings and a sandwich ring) to celebrate the rings of Jupiter seen in the book. Adding some glow sticks around the trays created the right ambiance.
We also had moon pies for the theme and scones like what were seen in the book for dessert.
Serving drinks in test tubes was another way to set the sci-fi theme!
Check out Cozy Crimes’ book club questions that can be used for any mystery.
Here are our questions targeted to The Mimicking of Known Successes:
1. What did you think of this genre mashup of sci-fi and cozy mystery?
2. How does this compare to noir-style mysteries?
3. How did the sci-fi planetary setting establish the world and play into the mystery?
4. What was your favorite futuristic element of the story?
5. What did you think of the romance in the story and how the characters’ backstory affected their investigation?
6. What did you think of the use of first-person narrative?
7. How did the characters’ careers prepare them to investigate this particular crime? What clues did you pick up on throughout the case?
8. How did you feel about the wrongdoers' plot?
9. What is the significance of the title?
10. This book is the first in a series. Would you read more of Mossa and Pleiti’s cases?
