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Julia Huni

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The Vacuum of Space: A Funny Sci Fi Mystery (Space Janitor Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Julia Huni (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 862 ratings

Book 1 of 4: Space Janitor

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It's a dirty galaxy and someone has to clean it.
Avoiding the wealthy inhabitants on the upper levels of Station Kelly Kornienko is bot-programmer Triana’s number one rule. Well, number two, right after "eat all the chocolate."

But when one of her cleaning bots finds a dead body, all the rules go out the airlock. A highly connected security agent interrupts her routine with stories of missing bodies, and Triana can’t ignore him; it’s cooperate or find a new job. A girl has to pay the rent, even on a crappy studio compartment.

Working with a shiny detective beats a shuttle dirt-side, so Triana lends her programming skills to Agent O’Neill’s investigation. Together, they find more victims and evidence of a major cover-up.

It will take all Triana’s technical talents, most of O’Neill’s connections, and some really excellent croissants to stop the murders, save her job, and ultimately, her life.

The Vacuum of Space is the first book in a completed series.

This book was previously published as Murder is Messy

From the Publisher

bottom of floating astronaut with planet in space

Find out what your friends are laughing about

When one of Triana's cleaning bots finds a dead body, all the rules go out the airlock. A top-lev security agent interrupts her routine with stories of missing bodies, and Triana can’t ignore him; it’s cooperate or find a new job. A girl has to pay the rent, even on a crappy studio compartment.

Working with a shiny detective beats a shuttle dirt-side, so Triana lends her programming skills to Agent O’Neill’s investigation. Together, they find more victims and evidence of a major cover-up.

Humor, mystery, and a little romance. In space.

Series Reading Order:

You can read the original series in the omnibus, Triana Moore, Space Janitor, or individually as the first six books below. Then continue in the follow-on series, Tales of a Former Space Janitor.

The Vacuum of Space
The Dust of Kaku
The Trouble with Tinsel
Glitter in the Stars
Sweeping S'Ride
The Rings of Grissom
Planetary Spin Cycle
Waxing the Moon of Lewei

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

To avoid minor spoilers, I recommend you read the Space Janitor series in the order in which they were published:

The Vacuum of Space (Originally published as Murder is Messy)
The Dust of Kaku (Originally published as Dirtside Decluttering)
The Trouble with Tinsel
Orbital Operations
Glitter in the Stars (Originally published as Stars, Stiffs and Stains)
Sweeping S'Ride

About the Author

Hi, my name is Julia. Like many writers, I have an eclectic background. I've been an Air Force officer, a college instructor, and that lady at the information booth in a tourist town. I currently write the Space Janitor series, and in my spare time, I work as a community college administrator.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07VMZ5Y31
Publisher ‏ : ‎ IPH Media (August 1, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 1, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3547 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 234 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1085812405

Best Sellers Rank: #72,551 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #67 in Crime & Mystery Science Fiction
- #95 in Humorous Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #260 in Humorous Science Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 862 ratings

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Julia Huni

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Julia Huni grew up in the Pacific Northwest. After college, she served nine years in the US Air Force. Over the years, she's been an IT guy, a stay-at-home-mom, a college professor, a NASA executive assistant, a NATO branch director, and that lady at the information desk in a tourist town. She's also played piano at church and studied Tae Kwon Do.

When she's not writing, she's baking, playing tennis with her family, knitting, or traveling. Sometimes, she even does more than one of those things at a time. This year she started CrossFit, and even her earlobes are sore.

You can follow her on Amazon, Bookbub, Facebook and/or at her website: juliahuni.com.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

862 global ratings

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Loves_light_fun_reads :)

highly recommended space adventure !

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2024

Verified Purchase

A fun, light and quirky escape from reality. Loved the world and characters. I can’t wait to read the next book!

Helpful

Lili Lost in a Book

Cozy sci-fi mystery set in space? Yes please!

Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2023

Verified Purchase

I had this book on my wishlist for a while until I finally grabbed it when it was free one day, and honestly, it was the best decision of my life 😆 This book was so much fun and I loved it! It’s basically a cozy murder mystery set in space, and a genre I did not know I needed in my life. Lol. I started this series Fall of 2021, and since then, all I've been wanting to read is sci-fi. Lol.

I really loved this world. Triana works maintenance in a space station, and one day she’s just going about her day when she literally stumbles over a dead body... that then disappears! Triana is then sucked into the investigation alongside the sexy Agent Ty O’Neill, and we follow them as they try to solve the murder and uncover some interesting secrets.

I loved the murder mystery aspect of this book! The mystery itself was okay and it got kinda lost in the middle while the characters dealt with other things, but I still found myself having fun. Lol. We actually discovered some very interesting things about Triana that I was not expecting. It made the story that much more intriguing.

And speaking of Triana, I loved her! She was sassy and always getting into trouble... unintentionally. Lol. But she was also really smart. She’s really good with technology, which was a huge advantage during their investigation. I also loved Ty 😍 At the beginning of the book we had the fake relationship trope going on, which I always enjoy. But later on in the book he tells her that he wasn’t going to rush her, when talking about their relationship. It was the sweetest!

This book was just a lot of fun! I enjoyed all the banter and flirting, and I especially loved the slow burn romance of it all. And honestly, I could’ve used more of it 😆 It was a light, funny read with fun characters and a great setting. The mystery was okay, but I overall did really enjoy this!

2 people found this helpful

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Slugpuppy3

Most Enjoyable Story!

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2022

Verified Purchase

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale! It’s a Sci Fi murder mystery with a bit of humor and a little romance. The protagonist, Triana, is a brilliant coder happily working as a janitor bot controller when one of them discovers a dead body. Unfortunately, not all the security agents are what they seem and things go downhill from there. Wonderful, well rounded characters, excellent dialog, and a well handled plot equal a five star story!

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Mark Schultz

So much fun as long as you don't trip over a body.

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

Science fiction is my favorite genre and I really like cozy mysteries, this was a perfect book for me. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the quirky names a great deal. The story is well plotted, it has a lot of twists and turns, quite unexpected most of the time. Maybe I am not good at picking up the clues, I am never right when it comes to guessing who the perpetrator is. None the less, it was a lot of fun.
There is a lot of great dialogue, the characters stay well within their bounds, most of the time. The scene-setting is quite good also.
I give "The Vacuum of Space" 4.8 stars. The score would have been higher except for the rather large handful of spelling errors I stumbled over while reading.

3 people found this helpful

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King Dad

a fun read

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2023

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This was a fun change of pace from my usual books. A cute story with a neat heroine. Flawed but interesting. Enough of a fun read to purchase the next book in the series.

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Richard Irwin

Well-written amusing tale

Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a fun read. Triana Moore is a lowly unassuming Space janitor. More precisely, she takes care of the janitorial bots in a very large space habitat. Her world is shaken-up, however, when she discovers a dead body and gets involved in the case.

The author provides a good look at the politics and class privileges in this privately owned habitat. The writing is very good and I plan on reading the next book in the series.

One person found this helpful

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Dr Susan

Fantastic sci fi adventure with a bit of romance

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2023

Verified Purchase

Amazon says I've never reviewed Vacuum, which I don't believe, but I just reread it for the fourth time, so I'll write a review. The worldbuilding is believable and fascinating. The story is well-written with a marvelous plot. Triana is a great character and narrator, and I love her. Bad stuff happens (vomiting may be involved, too). The supporting cast becomes even more important in later books and is very supportive. The humor is often of the laugh-out-loud variety. Despite the bad stuff (murder is never good), I really enjoyed Vacuum and highly recommend it.

One person found this helpful

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Cole's Mom

The Adventure Filled Life of a Space Janitor

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024

Verified Purchase

We meet our heroine as she slogs through another shift of space station bot maintenance. A bot reports an obstruction. Hoping it is not gum stuck to the wall, she instead discovers that the bot has encountered a body. As in dead person. And the adventures begin. People are not what, or who, they seem. Events can seem strangely connected. Memories are not always clear. Fortunately, she has Ty and Kara to help her out. There is a killer and they need to be stopped. Plus, if good food and a layer of sexy maybe-romance don't help, they certainly don't hurt.

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Top reviews from other countries

StarbooksIH

So very entertaining!

Reviewed in Germany on January 1, 2024

Verified Purchase

I just love our space janitor. Her way of seeing and commenting the ongoings is quite unique and I enjoyed myself reading this book very much. Oh, and her secret being revealed - so intriguing a surprise. And Ty - my, oh my.

Nice characters to root for, interesting plot, mysteries to solve, good amount of action, well-written.
I am looking forward to the plot.

bushbaby

Really good story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2023

Verified Purchase

I had two significant gripes with this story. Firstly, I dislike the modern fad for writing in the present tense, which I find very distracting to read – there is a good reason why novels are traditionally written in the past tense. Secondly the title was off-putting – it wasn’t particularly funny, just a very good story, and “The Vacuum of Space” didn’t convey much about the subject matter.

So it would have been four stars if it wasn’t that the actual story was really good. A feisty main character and a well developed and thought out mystery in a solid science fiction environment. In spite of the annoying present tense I thoroughly recommend it as a very good read.

Dr. Anthony Wensley

Engaging

Reviewed in Canada on August 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

Good characters, plot and dialog. Gives you a feeling that future society won’t be much different from present. Occasional good humour lightens the plot.

Kate Powers

If you like Murderbot, read this.

Reviewed in Australia on September 18, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was so much fun. Fast paced but with excellent character depth, strong writing, perfect mix of action and humour and a touch of romance. Will definitely read on in the series.

Dan

Who dunnit on a space station

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2023

Verified Purchase

A good read. Being good at your job doesn't normally get you into trouble. Not so for Triana, her low key existence and even her life are under threat when she becomes involved in a murder investigation

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The Vacuum of Space: A Funny Sci Fi Mystery (Space Janitor Book 1) Kindle Edition

From the Publisher

Find out what your friends are laughing about

Humor, mystery, and a little romance. In space.

Series Reading Order:

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Julia Huni

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

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