Customer Reviews

Delete All Suspects (A Turing Hopper Mystery)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

When the computer programmers made artificial intelligence personalities (AIP), nobody expected one of them, Turing Hoppper, to gain sentience or to make friends with humans. Her biggest concern of the moment is finding her clone T-2 stolen by Nestor Garcia, a criminal who wants to use her intelligence in planning his career. Turing's friend private investigator Tim Pinesoki is hired by Mrs Stallman to investigate her grandson's business. He was the victim of a hit and run driver; a witness thinks the driver was trying to murder Edward.

Mrs. Stallman thinks that the attempted murder was linked to his web hosting business and to the friends her grandson let use free space on his server for their website. To get her mind off her problems, Turing decides to help Tim as does her friend Maude Graham who is the front person for Turing's businesses. It takes them a long time to get inside because they don't have the user name or password but when they do get in, they realize someone is running illegal porn sites and someone else is using phiset spams to collect credit card and banking information. When the neighbor who saw the hit and run is murdered, Turing and company realize they are dealing will a very dangerous individual who will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets too close to uncovering the truth.

For an AIP, Turing Hopper has more personality then most humans do and her quest to understand carbon based entities is something a sentient AI would do. Luckily, she is a decent silicon based entity who only bends the law to prevent her sentience from being discovered. The mystery is constructed with a variety of suspects; many of whom committed criminal acts but only one went so far as murder. Donna Andrews has written another great amateur sleuth who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner

Love this series. A HARD to find book. I've been looking for years in stores. Who says a computer can't be a detective. Turing Lives!!

Yes, I do still like these books, wish she would write more, I really would like to see how she could track down that poor T2.

The book had many of the author's wonderful laugh out loud moments. The mystery was pleasant but not as sharp as some of her others, for example, "Access Denied". I enjoy her continuing characters but would like to get to the end of her clone. It's getting a little boring.

This is the fourth Turing Hopper mystery that I've read. Turing is an AIP, i.e. an Artificial Intelligence Personality super computer, who is owned by the Universal Library. Turing has become a sentient being, and although confined in her machine space, she sees through webcams, communicates with humans with an artificial voice, and can make cellular phone calls.

Andrews has made Turing into a dectective and with the help of her human friends she has solved several difficult cases prior to this one. Although Turing can pull computing power from anywhere, and can hack into anything she does have ethics and morals built into her program so she uses her skills only to help her human co-workers solve crimes. It is during these investigations that, although Turing does her best, sometimes she has difficulty understanding her friends both human and machine.

Delete All Suspects involves the web hosting business of Eddie Stallman. P.I., an acquaintance of Tim Pincoski, who also works for Turing's company. He is hired by Eddie's grandmother and landlady to find out who ran him down in a hit-and-run car accident. Tim is also asked to check into Eddie's business and try to keep it going. The police think it is just an accident, despite an eyewitness' description, and have no interest in Eddie's business. Tim becomes increasingly dubious that it was an accident so he involves both Turing and Turing's partner and human friend, Maude Graham.

Turing is unable to break into Eddie's network because Eddie has protected all his business files, but eventually Maude discovers paper clues in Eddie's messy basement office. Irate phone calls from his clients lead Turing, Maude and Tim to the conclusion that Eddie has been hosting web sites and that he may have also been involved in pornographic and gambling sites.

As clues mount up, more questions than answers continue to puzzle Turing and her friends. Evidence is mounting that Eddie might have also been involved in Internet drug sales or credit card "phishing." There are 2 more murders and the investigation becomes more difficult and hazardous.

In Delete All Suspects, Turing's growth as a sentient being is evident. She is retrospective and finds that her understanding of human behavior is limited and begins to ask questions of Maud in an effort to understand her better . In a humorous section, Turing adopts a cat as a pet, but finds that Tim has to take care of it since she can't.

Andrews also does a great job with her human characters. Maude, Turing's partner and friend, has to struggle between loyalty to Turing and her desire to become closer with her boyfriend Dan without devulging Turing's secret. Tim, is also gaining maturity and leaving his insecurities behind. I am glad to see that Claudia, the attorney, is going to stay as part of the team. Andrews chooses to shift point of view between the three main characters, so their internal monologs further the plot and character development.

This is a great series, immaginative and well written. My hat is off to Andrews who has done an admirable job of conbining science fiction and mystery. I recommend starting at the beginning of the series so you can enjoy all the books and "growing pains" of Turing.

This series deals with Turing, a satient computer, who crosses the line from computer to a creature of emotions, human foibles.
It is a cute series and the characters who are Turing's friends are a great combination.
The only bone to pick is enough already with Turing's 'twin' who has been kidnapped by the bad guys. After 4 books, we need a new turn for Turing.
Good light book.