A Borrowed Man is the first book in the Borrowed Man series by award-winning American author, Gene Wolfe. It’s the twenty-second century, the human population is down to a billion, technology is highly advanced, and ‘bots, sims and clones are part of everyday life.

Not in great demand, and having thus languished on his Level Three shelf at the Spice Grove Public Library for some time, E.A.Smithe is inordinately pleased when Colette Coldbrook arrives to check him out of the library. For one thing, it extends the period before he is burned due to undemand; for another, it relieves the boredom.

Ern is a reclone of the (long-ago-deceased) author of several mystery novels, including Murder on Mars, and Colette needs him to help her solve a mystery involving just that book. In the past six weeks, Colette tells Smithe, she has lost first her father, then her brother. Cob was murdered just after he delivered to her the sole item he had found in their father’s safe, a copy of Murder on Mars.

Colette is convinced it holds the key to the family’s fortune, and that Smithe, as the author of the book, can help her find it. Ern is certainly willing, if it means he will be checked out. Ern wonders about her precautions with regards being overheard, but it quickly apparent that her paranoia is justified.

Collette explains that her father was a financial genius, brilliant but also very secretive. By the time Ern has examined Conrad Colbrook Senior’s house and laboratory, and made enquiries, he begins to figure out what is going on, and understands that Colette has been less than truthful.

Part dystopian tale, part sci-fi, this cleverly plotted story manages to include murder and violence, emeralds and aliens, listening devices, crooked cops and nuclear reactors. Wolfe’s world-building is subtle and seamless: bearing in mind that his original self died over a century ago, Smithe’s lengthy sojourn on his shelf in the library is the perfect excuse for his ignorance of things modern, and his curiosity.

As a mystery writer, Smithe spends a good deal of time on deduction and logistics, and his conclusions about motivation and behaviour are reminiscent of a 1940’s detective. At a deeper level, there is also the dystopian aspect, a commentary on society: reclones considered subhuman; humans with disabilities live in fear; sexism, poverty and violence commonplace; and more. However, the resolution is extremely satisfactory, and readers who enjoy this novel will be pleased to know that E.A.Smithe reappears in the sequel, Interlibrary Loan. This is a superb read!