Midsolar Murders

The Midsolar Murders by Mur Lafferty.

Imagine being so good at solving murders people just keep dying around you so you can solve more.

Just a fun series. You'd think a setting with wasp hive minds, sentient space stations and living rocks which turn into spaceships by drinking the blood of their enemies would be all about the world-building but it's the characters that're the focus here. There still is plenty of quality wordbuilding, it's just relegated to the background where it effectively serves as interesting color rather than requiring you to think too hard about its morality or feasibility.

Everyone around our protagonist Mallory dies, and not in the typical woe-is-me gumshoe detective way but in an actual 'this lady is cursed way'. Fortunately (depending on your perspective), she has a supernatural ability to Dirk Gently her way into solving said murders through incredible powers of observation and sheer happenstance. After blaming herself for one too many deaths she petitions a sentient alien space station for asylum, becoming one of only two humans on the station, in the hope her curse doesn't affect aliens. Surprisingly it doesn't (mostly because the 'curse' isn't causing the murders but causing her to be near them), but unsurprisingly murders continue to be plentiful, especially when a shuttle packed with humans connected to those on the station suddenly turns up.

The second book was still enjoyable but maybe not quite as good since the novelty had worn off and there was less interesting wordlbuilding happening, mostly the same vibe but a different setup. I'll read the final book in the trilogy at some point but it's not high on my list of priorities; these were perfect for reading while unable to sleep on the plane to Italy but in the light of day they're just another cozy, enjoyable read.