Delete All Suspects (A Turing Hopper Mystery) [Paperback]

Donna Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2006

An investigation into a shady web-based business puts Turing Hopper, sentient computer and amateur sleuth, in the hot seat. The Feds are looking for an online vigilante, but Turing can't tell the FBI what she's found out without revealing her own identity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the quirky, engrossing fourth "techno-cozy" from Agatha Award–winner Andrews (after 2004's Access Denied), Alexandria, Va., PI Tim Pincoski and his buddy, Turing—an Artificial Intelligence Personality—are hired by Eunice Stallman, whose 22-year-old grandson, Eddie, has landed in the hospital after a hit-and-run. Mrs. Stallman wants Tim and Turing to investigate not the accident (which may have been not so accidental) but her grandson's computer company. The mysteries quickly multiply: is innocent-looking granny really who she claims to be? Was Eddie responsible for a phishing scheme that bilked innocent e-mailers out of thousands of dollars? This novel lacks the local color and charming cast of Andrews's popular Meg Lanslow series (Owls Well That Ends Well, etc.), but it's full of surprising twists and turns and should keep techies glued to the page. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The prolific Andrews, author of the highly popular bird-themed Meg Langslow series, delivers another entertaining installment featuring Turing Hopper. If Turing were human, her kindness, intelligence, and integrity would make her a much-admired protagonist; the fact that she is an AIP, or Artificial Intelligence Personality (sort of like a sentient computer), makes her all the more noteworthy. Running the Alan Grace Corporation like the unseen Charlie of Charlie's Angels, Turing has let a handful of humans in on the truth of her existence. Two of these, Maude and Tim, are working with Turing to discover what happened to Eddie Stallman, a "computer nerd" who hosted Web sites in Virginia and was killed by a hit-and-run driver. As Turing looks into the mystery, she also continues to search for T2, an AIP "sister" who may have been kidnapped by Turing's archenemy, Nestor Garcia. As usual, Andrews concocts a farfetched plot, but readers (justifiably) enamored with Turing won't care. A unique and charming series. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425209024
• ISBN-13: 978-0425209028
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #778,878 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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hi Tech Hit and Run, November 12, 2005

By 

Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Delete All Suspects (A Turing Hopper Mystery) (Hardcover)

PI Tim Pincoski is beginning to get tired of the background checks that have become his bread and butter in recent months so he jumps when a different kind of case is offered to him. Eddie Stallman is in critical condition in the hospital after a hit and run accident leaves him in a coma. His grandmother is convinced that it was an attempted murder and even thinks it has to do with Eddie's computer business. She wants to hire Tim and his partner, Claudia Diaz, to find out why someone would want to hurt him over the web sites he hosted.

Anything computer related is over Tim's head, so he immediately turns to his friends. While Artificial Intelligence Personality (AIP) Turing Hopper tries to gain access without leaving any traces, Maude Graham sorts through the clutter in the basement room Eddie lived in hoping to find a password that will help them gain access without hacking.

Tim and Claudia, meanwhile, track down and interview Eddie's friends. What they uncover is a trusting guy who let too many people have access to his system. Several friends seem to be taking advantage of that trust. But did one of them run him down to keep Eddie from turning them over to the authorities? Or is something else to blame for Eddie's accident?

This series has been a favorite since book one. Once again, Donna Andrews delivers a great mystery with engaging and well-developed characters. Since this series builds on each book, you really must read them in order to fully understand the people and relationships here. Even though enough background is given to bring new readers up to speed, this necessitates spoiling previous books in the series.

AIP Turing continues to be the best-developed character in the series. Even though she's not human, Ms. Andrews brings her hopes, desires, and wants to life in a realistic way. Turing takes up a new hobby this time around, pets. Watching her want what humans take for granted and the trials she puts her human friends through to get them provides for some nice comic moments.

This isn't to say that the humans aren't well developed as well. Maude and her struggle between loyalty to Turing and her desire to become closer with her boyfriend Dan is well handled. I find myself rooting for them to stay together even if I can't see how the two of them can work things out. Tim's insecurities are equally endearing. He and Claudia make a great team. Since point of view shifts seamlessly between these three characters, they are the best developed in the series, but that's not to the detriment of the others, including the new characters.

The plot, as always, is top notch. Things seem to be straightforward for quite a while, but there are several twists to watch out for that I never suspected were coming. While this book doesn't deal exclusively with series nemesis Nestor Garcia, that storyline gets a nice twist as well. The ending was once again a bit rushed, but a second, slower reading helped me straighten everything out in my mind.

This series continually entertains. Adding that to its unique premise, it will easily entertain science fiction and mystery fans equally. YOU'VE GOT MURDER is the best place to start to fully enjoy it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read!, December 28, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delete All Suspects (A Turing Hopper Mystery) (Hardcover)

This is the fourth Turing Hopper mystery. Turing is a computer, actually an AIP (Artificial Intelligence Personality) owned by the Universal Library. She sees through webcams, communicates through an artificial voice, and can make cell phone calls.

With her access to the Internet, Turing can pull computing power from anywhere, and can hack into anything (though she does have ethics, and uses her skills only to help her human co-workers solve crimes.)

Delete All Suspects involves the web hosting business of Eddie Stallman. P.I. Tim Pincoski is hired by Eddie's grandmother and landlady to find out who injured him in a hit-and-run car accident, and also about what is happening with his business.

The police think it is just an accident, despite an eyewitness' description, and have no interest in Eddie's business. Tim involves Turing and her human colleague Maude Graham.

Turing tries to break into Eddie's network to no avail--eventually paper clues in his messy and disorganized basement apartment and phone calls from his clients lead them to the conclusion that he is setting up and hosting web sites. There is evidence that he may have been involved in porn sites, and also gambling sites.

Could this have been the cause of the accident that has left him in a coma? Or could it have been Internet drug sales or "phishing" for credit card information? Could one of Eddie's techie friends, or his ex-girlfriend have been using his network without his knowledge? Additional murders and sudden complications make their job extremely difficult--even dangerous.

Turing grows with each novel. Her initial fears of Eddie's cat while her laptop is left in his office quickly change to affection, and eventually she adopts a cat, with Tim to physically care for it.

Armchair Interviews says: Turing's musings on the frailties of humanity and the meaning of existence are insightful and refreshing--considered they are from a computer, not a human.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very approachable take on computer crime, December 15, 2005

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Delete All Suspects (A Turing Hopper Mystery) (Hardcover)

Stuck in a dead-end on the search for her clone, T-2, Artificial Intelligence entity Turing helps her friend, private detective Tim Pincoski with a new case--one involving a hit-and-run 'accident' and a roomful of computer gear. The victim, Eddie Stallman, ran a web design and hosting company that might, possibly, have ties to some sort of illegal activity. It's even possible that his injury was no accident at all--but attempted murder.

Breaking into Eddie's co-location site is challenging because he had implemented the latest security patches before his 'accident.' But, if his security is so strong, does that mean he was, himself, involved with the illegal activity? When Turing decides there's a chance that Eddie's co-lo might hold some clue to T-2's whereabouts, she goes all-out to break in and discover everything she can. Before they get too far, though, the one witness to the hit-and-run is murdered.

Author Donna Andrews (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by Andrews) does a good job making the details of computer crime approachable and interesting. I admire the way she attempts to make Turing be both a real 'person,' without being 'human' in the conventional sense. For me, however, this book started too slowly. First, Turing spent a fair amount of time worrying that her search wasn't going anywhere, then we had the extremely long section where the detectives and Turing were in Eddie's basement not making much progress. Only when they'd finally breached Eddie's security did the plot heat up.

If you're a fan of this series, as I am, you'll definitely want to read DELETE ALL SUSPECTS. Andrews is a talented writer and she makes even boring subjects seem interesting. Still, although this wasn't an especially long book, too much of it seemed to be setup. Let's hope the next Turing story moves along a bit faster.