The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older, is the second installment in The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, a series of sapphic space operas centering cozy mysteries on Jupiter. As you can imagine, they are delightfully fun reads for anyone who enjoys sci fi, cozy mysteries, or both!

Despite being only 224 pages, I read this slowly over a week while traveling, and it was a story I genuinely enjoyed falling back into, even if it was only for a few pages at a time. Mossa, an investigator, once again ropes our classics-scholar-Pleiti (now her romantic partner) into an investigation. This time, it’s a missing persons case, though it once again revolves around academic drama, exposing the political fault lines among the scholars collaborating on a hypothetical return to Earth. Pleiti is still recovering from the traumatic events of the first mystery they solved together, and Mossa is concerned for Pleiti, even if she never knows *quite* how to communicate her feelings (oh, Mossa). Being inside Pleiti’s head and experiencing each mystery through her first-person narration adds to the humor of the story, because Pleiti is generally anxious and unsure of Mossa’s intentions, and, yet, still up for adventure (even if she feels a bit grumbly about it). 

I also have to note that these books read like love letters to sci fi readers. At one point, while gardening, Pleiti hums the “second aria of Murderbot” and my heart *sang* with delight. The meta political commentary on conspiracy theorists, conservatives and more bring the reader into the joke consistently, and round these off as just-right comfort reads. Thank you to Tordotcom and Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy.