Reviews

The principal sleuth here resides in a company computer: Turing Hopper, an artificial intelligence personality, sends employees Maude and Tim on a quest to find the murderer of co-worker Ray Santiago. Tim actually holds a new P.I. license, so he quickly determines that Santiago stole someone else's identity. Now the race is on to find out if Turing's intended new computer residence has been compromised. As the narrative alternates among the three sleuths, Turing becomes almost as real as any other character, with Maude and Tim serving as actual physical realities to whom readers can relate. A novel concept sure to keep readers guessing and amused. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

In Andrews's second exciting computer-as-sleuth mystery (after 2002's You've Got Murder), "Artificial Intelligence Personality" Hopper Turing draws on all her cyber skills to help investigate the murder of a gifted computer programmer, Ray Santiago, found shot to death in a Washington, D.C., alley, his laptop stolen. Turing and human colleagues Maude Graham and Tim Pincoski at Universal Library outside D.C. discover that Ray cleverly constructed a false identity and was deeply involved in the role-playing game subculture. Dangerous criminals have been preying on those gamers who turn to live-action role playing. The narrative mimics real software with layers of security for access to different databases and with worms to deny access and destroy intruders. Explanations of a few technical terms will ease the way for readers with little computer background, but those who are computer literate will most appreciate the author's talent for blending information-age details with an enjoyable crime puzzle. (May 6) FYI: Andrews is also the author of Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (Forecasts, Jan. 20) and other titles in her Meg Langslow series. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.