Meh. Realllllyyyy slow-paced for my tastes. And the Turing-Hopper character (and the other AI's) could have easily been computer whiz-kids without changing a thing. They didn't really seem to add anything. And there was far too much monologuing by said character. ( )

2.5**

Turing Hopper is an AIP – Artificial Intelligence Personality. She and her human friends operate Allen Grace, a firm that mixes private investigation and computer consulting. A young man who has a home office providing web-hosting services is seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident, and his grandmother hires the Allen Grace crew to make sure his business is operating while he recovers. But, they quickly uncover some rather unsavory, unethical and downright illegal activity.

This is book four in the series, but I didn’t feel I was missing anything. There’s obviously a recurring “villain” (think Professor Moriarity) who remains unseen – at least in this segment. I thought this was a pretty interesting and fresh premise. I believed in Turing as a “personality” all her own, rather than just a series of codes. However, the plot is pretty awkward and I guessed the perpetrators much more quickly than either the humans (including police and FBI) or the AIP. The final solution is totally unrealistic, and I’m left dissatisfied.
( )

Fourth and - to date - final mystery in the Turing Hopper series. According to her website, Donna Andrews is planning to write more, which is a relief - the plots vary in quality, but the characters only go from strength to strength! (Still loving Maude, although not sure about her love interest, FBI agent Dan Norris).

'Delete All Suspects', as with the other three novels, is well paced but believable - the technobabble is neatly explained by Turing (she's a computer, she's allowed to know everything), and her human assistants provide the standard detective fare (misjudging people and finding themselves in danger). It is easy to work out two of the 'twists in the tale' before the characters do, but the mystery - a hit-and-run 'accident' of a small-time web host - keeps building in tension right until the end. Then, unfortunately, the continuing saga of Turing's 'little sister', or clone, T2 butts in again and the drama sort of fizzles out. This should be covered in one book and then left alone. Although, without T2, the actual solution to the puzzle might have been a little bland.

The body count is always surprising - no last minute reprieves here - and Turing's computer log could do with trimming still (she adds more to the story in dialogue, whether with people or her fellow AIPs than with introspection), but it's good news that this isn't Turing's final case. (And perhaps another sequel will pick up on Turing's 'slip of the processor' in front of new team member Claudia, which seemed to pass without comment here.) ( )