Access Denied [Hardcover]

Donna Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2004

When Turing Hopper, Artificial Intelligence Personality extraordinaire, learns that criminal Nestor Garcia's once-dormant credit card has been doing a lot of shopping lately, she begins to do some sleuthing-and finds out the loot's shown up at an empty bungalow. So Turing gets her human friends to stake out the vicinity. But when one of them sees something he wishes he hadn't-and gets charged with murder-everyone will have to pull together to clear his name. The only way to do it is to find the guilty party-by luring him to attack them. But doing so might very well get them "accidentally" deleted...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Expert plotting and a highly original heroine lift Andrews's third entry in her Agatha Award–winning series starring an almost-sentient computer (after 2003's Click Here for Murder). "Artificial Intelligence Personality" Turing Hopper has been monitoring the credit cards of notorious criminal-at-large Nestor Garcia, waiting for signs of activity. When suddenly thousands of dollars of purchases begin appearing, Turing traces them to deliveries to a vacant house in northern Virginia. For Garcia to be using his credit card in such a manner is highly suspicious, so Turing and "her" assistants, including human friends Tim and Maude, who work for Washington's Universal Library, start investigating. Tim watches the vacant house, but when a dead body turns up, Tim could well be the police's only real suspect in the murder. Later, someone tries to break into Maude's house, and Turing realizes that a devious plot is unfolding. Could Nestor Garcia be behind it all? As Turing works on the puzzle, racing against time, she observes everything with the wry, witty musings on human-computer relations that make this "techno-cozy" series a true standout.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In a genre populated with all variety of amateur sleuths, Andrews' Turing Hopper, an "AIP," or Artificial Intelligence Personality, stands out as possibly the most original of the lot. Hopper is a computer who "sees" through cameras mounted in various locales, including the office "she" shares with human partners Maude and Tim. Originally programmed to help users with database searches, Turing has developed some decidedly human traits. In her third adventure, the AIP becomes aware of suspicious activity on the credit card of Nestor Garcia, a notorious criminal the group has encountered previously. Tim stakes out the ship-to address from Garcia's card but falls asleep and winds up the main suspect in a murder that took place on the property. As Turing uses her database to find clues, Maude deals with an FBI agent who's taking a personal interest in her. Although the premise is a bit of a stretch, readers will appreciate the entertaining Turing, who struggles to make sense of humans while becoming humanlike herself. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover (December 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425198383
• ISBN-13: 978-0425198384
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,687,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing since I learned to print, but didn't get published until Murder with Peacocks won the Malice Domestic/St. Martins Press Best First Traditional Mystery contest in spring 1998. Since then I've written six more comic mysteries books featuring ornamental blacksmith Meg Langslow: Murder with Puffins (2000), Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos (2001), Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (2003), We'll Always Have Parrots (2004), Owls Well That Ends Well (2005), and No Nest for the Wicket (August 2006). I've also started another series in with the sleuth, Turing Hopper, is an artificial intelligence personality living inside a corporate computer: You've Got Murder (2002), Click Here for Murder (2003), Access Denied (2004), and Delete All Suspects (2005).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do Not Deny Yourself the Pleasure of This Book, December 18, 2004

By 

Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Access Denied (Hardcover)

For the last six months, artificial intelligence personality (AIP) Turing Hopper has been monitoring the credit card account of Nestor Garcia, hoping to gain a clue on the were abouts of this criminal. Still, she's shocked when she finds a charge on the account. When she finds the order is going to an empty house, she sends Tim out to see who shows up. Unfortunately, Tim falls asleep on his stake out and wakes up to find the police accusing him of a murder that occurred while he was out. With the stakes raised, Turing, Maude, and Tim spring into action. But can they solve the puzzle? Is there more here then simple credit card fraud? Was Garcia a victim even though he doesn't fit the pattern? And will they give away Turing's secret with all their on-line snooping?

I loved this book! It drew me in from page one and I had a hard time putting it down until I was finished. Turing, though an AIP, is a very real character. The sub-plot dealing with her relationships with her human friends is very well done. The mystery plot is deftly handled as well, and I couldn't wait to see where things were going. The ending left me intrigued and I'm already impatient for the next in the series.

This is not your normal cozy series because it includes a strong hi tech/sci-fi element. But for anyone looking for something different, this is a great place to start. Just be sure you read them in order starting with YOU'VE GOT MURDER because this series builds on each other big time, both in character interaction and plot. This book will spoil the first two for you by necessity.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun, good questions, but middle book feel, February 3, 2005

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Access Denied (Hardcover)

Artificial Intelligence Turing Hopper has spent trillions of nanoseconds searching for the man who stole her clone. A credit card owned by one of the thief's identities proves to be the first clue in months (of human time) and Turing sends her human allies, Detective Tim and Maude, to investigate. What they find is a clever credit card theft scheme--someone is using multiple dead-drops to charge high-value and pawnable items. Could the thief, Nestor Garcia--an archdemon of crime along the lines of Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes tales--have been himself scammed? Or might Garcia be planting evidence that will implicate Turing and draw publicity to her secret?

Things take a turn for the worse when Tim becomes a suspect in a murder case.

Author Donna Andrews provides an engaging look at the fast-growing crime of credit card theft, and offers some interesting thoughts on the future of crime. Turing has become a sentient being, despite her programming origin, but she is forced to keep her identity secret. If she were 'outed,' would she become 'property,' or might she become recognized as a 'person?' Turing is a person-loving sort, but not all of the artificial intelligences of her acquaintance have much use for humans. What might be the result if some of them were set free?

ACCESS DENIED has a bit of a 'middle book' feel. Garcia's motivation was hard to figure--and even at the end, I wondered if maybe his motivations just didn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps this will be resolved in the next book in the series. In the end, I enjoyed this novel and the questions Andrews asks. It just seemed that the humans and the artificial intelligence spent a lot of time running around and not a lot of time thinking things through.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A charmer, October 31, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Access Denied (Hardcover)

Artificial Intelligence Personality (AIP) Turing Hopper has gained sentience and with the help of her two friends is now in charge of Universal Libraries and Alan Grace Inc. All three sentient beings are on the lookout for Nestor Garcia because he knows about Turing and wants to steal her just like he did her clone T2. When someone uses his credit card to make online charges and have them delivered to a house where he family is on vacation, Tim, a private investigator sets up a surveillance, which collapses when he falls asleep on the job.

When he wakes up, the person who was supposed to pick up the packages is dead. And he has to talk his way out of jail. Turing hacks into databases where she finds that a stolen credit card ring is operating in her part of the city. That information leads them to a collection agency where a skip tracer who is the ringleader has all the credit cards, the names, what was purchased and where it was delivered in a spreadsheet. When he disappears, Turing and company set out to find him because they want to know if he is connected to Nestor.

Turing is absolutely adorable as she tries to understand how carbon based entities operate. She constantly contrasts their personality traits to that of AIPs and decides she wants to be part of both worlds. Turing's lawyer is let in on the AIP's secret and id already making plans for her to gain recognition in the courts. Turing wants to keep a very low profile until Nester is caught and T2 is returned to her. Readers will find ACCESS DENIED a charming mystery with a delightful heroine.

Harriet Klausner