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You've Got Murder
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Author: Donna Andrews
List Price: $21.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 042518191X
Publisher: Prime Crime (02 April, 2002)
Edition: Hardcover
Sales Rank: 175,187
Average Customer Rating: 4.82 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 5 out of 5
There aren¿t enough superlatives to describe this book.
As a rather jaded reader of murder mysteries for more years than I care to count, I thought I'd read them all. When I picked up YOU'VE GOT MURDER, I expected a trite tale of Internet stalker/murderer. Boy, was I surprised.The sleuth in this fast-paced and thoroughly original tale is a computer. This is no ordinary computer, however. This computer is endowed with a name and with charm, personality and sensitivity; a computer who takes pride in her work and continues to learn and improve. When she misses her programmer and suspects that something has happened to him, she sets out to find him. Now this is no simple task for a machine -- a collection of chips, bytes and bits! As the story evolves the reader hangs on every page to see just how this delightful machine will manage to get legs, eyes and ears and solve the evolving, increasingly complicated puzzle. This is a delightful and absorbing story full of charming, believable characters. So what if the villains are a bit of a cliché? The analytical processes of the computer heroine, the rest of the characters, and the story are so imaginative and original that the book is a real page-turner. We can only hope that this is the first of a series.
Rating: 5 out of 5
A sentient computer searches for her programmer
Turing Hopper is one of the Artificial Intelligence Personalities (AIP) at Universal Library's headquarters in Crystal City, Virginia. Turing was programmed by Zack Malone. She is sentient. She begins worrying when Zack does not come to work for a few days. There is no record of his planning to be absent. Turing observes James Smith (is that his real name?) from security searching Zack's office. She then enlists Tim Pincoski who works in the copying room and Maude Graham, a secretary, to help her find Zack. Turing is able to view the goings on at UL via the various security cameras but soon realizes she cannot see any cameras on the ninth floor where security resides. At first Tim insists Turing is a real woman who refuses to meet him in person. Over time, he begins to understand that she really is a sentient computer. Tim ends up on the run from security. Maude and Tim put themselves in continuous danger to help Turing in her quest to find Zack. I found this to be a refreshingly new protagonist for a cozy mystery. Many times I almost forgot that Turing was a computer. She is so realistically written but yet has the limitations of a computer. It is those limitations that brought back the fact that she was a computer. The way she interacts with Tim and Maude in their search and the way she has to be careful who is listening or watching are so realistic. Tim is a great character and I hope that he and Maude will be in future books in this series. I like the Crystal City location as I have been there and recognized many of the locations mentioned in the book. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the next book in the series.
Rating: 4 out of 5
great new series
I zoomed through this book like it was nothing. I don't usually read mystery, but I thought this sounded interesting. The main character is Turing Hopper, an AIP, or Artificial Intelligence Personality. When she notices that Zack, her friend and the main creator of her program, has been missing from work for several days, she gets worried. He's not at home either. Her worry for him prompts her to involve others, including Tim and Maude. Both work at the Universal Library and have chatted with Turing. Maude knows what Turing is - a program that was designed, basically, to help people with research, a program that has achieved sentience. Tim, on the other hand, has some difficulty believing that Turing is who she says she is and not a shy redhead. Together, the three of them uncover things that go beyond just Zack's disappearance.First off, if you don't understand anything about computers, this book may be a bit difficult for you. For example, you need to know what uploading is, downloading, chatting, instant messaging, etc. However, you thankfully don't need to be a programmer to enjoy this book. Andrews makes sure to explain some of the things that might be hard for the average computer user to understand, so, for the most part, the technical aspects of this book are easy to follow. The mystery itself was captivating. I couldn't put the book down, because I wanted to find out what Turing and her friends would uncover next. I do have one problem with the book, though, which is why is got a four and not a five. Some of the book is from Tim's point of view, while other parts are from Maude's. A large part of the book is from Turing's point of view. Because Turing is a computer, she can't really interact with the physical world that much. She can look through security cameras, but, otherwise, there are lots of descriptions of her hacking into things or looking through data. Occaisionally, it got a little boring. Also, Turing spent a lot of time agonizing over herself - was she behaving in what humans would consider an ethical way, how does one go about having a sense of humor, etc. This sort of thing helped her seem more human, not less, and it was interesting, to a point. However, after a while of this, I found myself wishing that the author had written less of this book from Turing's point of view. In spite of this, I do really recommend this book. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.
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