DONNA ANDREWS MYSTERIES
I've just finished reading two mysteries by Donna Andrews, each the first in a series and each an Agatha Award winner. Both were "hard-to-put-down" books.
The first, Murder with Peacocks, received the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in 2000. The amateur sleuth in this book is Meg Langslow, an artist who makes ironwork sculptures. She has been selected to be the Maid-of-Honor in 3 consecutive weddings in her home town, each a week apart. And--oh, yeah--she has also been recruited to ORGANIZE each of these weddings and the 3 brides keep changing the details. Amidst all these frustrations, a relative of one of the grooms dies under suspicious circumstances and a series of potentially fatal accidents occur. The "good-ol'-boy" sheriff pooh-pooh's the possible danger, so Meg tries to investigate herself--all the while coping with the 3 wedding plans. The story is full of eccentric characters--and animals--and portrays small town life in the South in a charming manner. Several more books in this series are out now, all with bird names in the titles. I've already checked out the second, Murder with Puffins.
The second book, You've Got Murder, has a unique sleuth in Turing Hopper. "She" is an AIP--Artificial Intelligence Personality. That's right, a computer, a "sentient" computer. Turing has noticed her creator, Zack, has not been to the office in several days--a major aberration for a programming nerd. She starts to worry, especially when she notices his office is being furtively searched in the middle of the night by someone ostensibly from Security (she can monitor the security cameras). She enlists the aid of one of the executive secretaries and the copy room manager to do outside research for her. Events become more dangerous when she discovers there may be a plan to destroy her and the other AIP's and that Zack's identity is being deleted from company records, as if he never existed. So, she and her cohorts try to find Zack before Security does. This book is a real page-turner. It won the 2003 Agatha Award for Best Novel. There are 2 more Turing Hopper books out now.
The first, Murder with Peacocks, received the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in 2000. The amateur sleuth in this book is Meg Langslow, an artist who makes ironwork sculptures. She has been selected to be the Maid-of-Honor in 3 consecutive weddings in her home town, each a week apart. And--oh, yeah--she has also been recruited to ORGANIZE each of these weddings and the 3 brides keep changing the details. Amidst all these frustrations, a relative of one of the grooms dies under suspicious circumstances and a series of potentially fatal accidents occur. The "good-ol'-boy" sheriff pooh-pooh's the possible danger, so Meg tries to investigate herself--all the while coping with the 3 wedding plans. The story is full of eccentric characters--and animals--and portrays small town life in the South in a charming manner. Several more books in this series are out now, all with bird names in the titles. I've already checked out the second, Murder with Puffins.
The second book, You've Got Murder, has a unique sleuth in Turing Hopper. "She" is an AIP--Artificial Intelligence Personality. That's right, a computer, a "sentient" computer. Turing has noticed her creator, Zack, has not been to the office in several days--a major aberration for a programming nerd. She starts to worry, especially when she notices his office is being furtively searched in the middle of the night by someone ostensibly from Security (she can monitor the security cameras). She enlists the aid of one of the executive secretaries and the copy room manager to do outside research for her. Events become more dangerous when she discovers there may be a plan to destroy her and the other AIP's and that Zack's identity is being deleted from company records, as if he never existed. So, she and her cohorts try to find Zack before Security does. This book is a real page-turner. It won the 2003 Agatha Award for Best Novel. There are 2 more Turing Hopper books out now.
posted by Liz E. at 11:18 AM
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