Access Denied - Hardcover

Andrews, Donna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0425198383 ISBN 13: 9780425198384

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover, 2004

Synopsis

When Turing Hopper, Artificial Intelligence Personality and sleuth, uncovers information tied to criminal Nestor Garcia's long-dormant credit cards, she sends her human assistants to investigate, but when one of them becomes embroiled in murder, the A.I. detective must find a way to bring the guilty party to light. By the author of Click Here for Murder.

About this title

About the Author

Donna Andrews introduced Turing Hopper in You've Got Murder, followed by Click Here for Murder. She also writes an award-winning birder's mystery series.

Reviews

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.

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

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0425198383
• ISBN 13: 9780425198384
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256