This was surprisingly a rather good story about Beverly Crusher and while the who-dun-it part of story was like something from CSI with the various twists and turns, and false leads (by that I mean characters who you may suspect of being the killer) for large parts it was engaging and had just enough suspense to keep the story moving forward.

For such a small story, it did not feel that rushed and you had time to reflect on Beverly's age and her later years. There was that small bit about her knees creaking, and during that final confrontation you made that very clear that Beverly is not exactly in her prime. Since this was all about Beverly, and any other characters were there to complement this aim of your story, this story worked well and you fleshed out some aspects of her character which TNG kind of overlooked or bypassed: her regrets from the past, her connection with the San Francisco area, and finally the experience and wisdom she picked up over the many years serving with Starfleet.

I think the most interesting character you created was Tennyson. A person still suffering from the Dominion war, and at times his distressed state almost implied he was the murderer, though it did seem a bit of stretch that Tennyson was still on duty given how emotionally distraught he was. Perhaps Beverly should have relieved him of duty, or ordered him to take a period of leave, giving his state immediately after cadet Michaels was attacked. At times I almost thought there was a faint hint of a possible romance between Tennyson and Beverly, though that could have been my imagination!

I also like the cameo appearances of Julian Bashir and admiral Janeway! They definitely did not detract from the story and if anything their inclusion was like sprinkling salt on a very tasty dish.

In conclusion, this was an effective story which works well for those who are familiar with TNG Beverly Crusher and you can delve right into it even if one has not read your previous works concerning Beverly. The pacing was efficient while this story never dragged thanks to it mainly being driven by a lot of dialogue. My only slight grudge are those times when you switched POVs in a handful of scenes and that kind of made it a little confusing given all the dialogue.

All in all I would give this story four stars out of five. It's a solid story but it feels very much like a stand-alone piece, so unless this is part of a bigger series, I'm not sure whether I would read it again. But you totally sold the idea of Beverly Crusher an investigator of crimes and murder. That main point I could totally accept, so in that regard your story is a success.

Something Tennyson's role in this murder mystery is not quite finished... And post-traumatic stress disorder or not, I still get that sense that something is really wrong with Tennyson!

Great stuff!

Wow this story really is coming on! My interest really picked up when you made that passing reference about Admiral Janeway!

Classic detective drama this is! Four suspects, each with potential reasons for killing Fentrura. My gut feeling is that none of them are guilty, that would be a nice little twist if this were so!

Eep! Changing POVs! That one came on too sudden and with all that dialogue to, it seems simpler to stick with one POV. But at least 'Dick' is getting along with Beverly, though where the Dick comes from with the title commander Richard Tennyson I don't know!

A good scene though quite a few things going on this story seem to be explicitly or implicitly connected with Beverly's past, so I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, or even if it's being overused. But right now my main interest is the murderer, and for some I have a sneaking suspicion it could be Tennyson, the war-wearied officer possibly turned madman?

Nicely done.

Frankly, since I'm a contrarian, I figured it wasn't Hoert.

I love the little shoutouts – Bodega Bay is where Hitchcock's The Birds took place. Death on the Kobayashi Maru reflects Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile as the maglev reflects Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.

Good pilot for the series.