You've Got Murder (Turing Hopper, #1)

You've Got Murder (Turing Hopper #1)

by
3.6 of 5 stars 3.60  ·  rating details  ·  801 ratings  ·  100 reviews
Turing Hopper is an Artificial Intelligence Personality, a mainframe computer with a mind like Miss Marple. And when her creator, Zack, begins missing work, the sentient Turing senses foul play...
Paperback, 304 pages
Published April 1st 2003 by Berkley (first published 2002)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
One for the Money by Janet EvanovichThe No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall SmithCrocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth PetersChocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne FlukeThe Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun
Cozy Mystery Series
88th out of 299 books — 1,002 voters
Diners, Dives & Dead Ends by Terri L. AustinPortrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa ReinhartFront Page Fatality by LynDee WalkerOne for the Money by Janet EvanovichLowcountry Boil by Susan M. Boyer
Humorous Mysteries
16th out of 65 books — 46 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,317)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Angela
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For
This is a cute mystery story where the protagonist detective happens to be an artificial intelligence...not a cold AI like Hal (from 2001), but rather a full more-or-less human personality which happens to be embedded in a computer system rather than a body.

The book is a light enjoyable read for those who like mysteries and won't get caught up in issues of whether a system such as the one not-really-described in the book could exist in the present day. In some books its easy to throw realism asi...more
Antof9
ohmyword, I liked this book! I ripped through it in a day (husband is out of town), and wanted more :) It was so interesting, and actually charming (not something you say about books very often).

I marked a couple of humorous parts -- I seriously love entertaining email conversations, and there were definitely some good ones in here:


To: Turing Hopper
From: Maude Graham
Subject: Help!

Turing -- the Brat seems to think I can override normal corporate procedures and produce a new computer for him overn
...more
Kerry
I'm not sure what started the topic "AI as detective" on the Friends of Liad mailing list (I'm always running behind with my email and do a lot of quick scanning of lists, meaning I sometimes miss things). Whoever it was, by the time I joined the topic, the names of Donna Andrews and Turing Hopper were being tossed around. I read a few emails and decided this sounded like an author to try. I phoned my ever-helpful bookstore and asked it they had a copy; it arrived on my doorstep the next morning...more
Marie desJardins
This is a fun book about detective Turing Hopper -- who turns out to be an AI investigating the disappearance of her creator, Zach Malone. It's a light detective story, with some unexpected plot twists. The "personality" of the main character, and her philosophical musings about the nature of personhood and consciousness, are actually quite interesting -- and I think about this stuff for a living, so I should know! :-)

If you *don't* think about this stuff for a living, you will probably find it...more
Tinav
I also read the first four books in Andrews' Turing Hopper series. VERY different from the Langslow books but very good in their own right, imho. In order, the books are You've Got Murder, Click Here for Murder, Access Denied, and Delete All Suspects.

Turing is a unique character, an Artificial Intelligence Personality (AIP), who resides inside the massive databanks of Universal Library in Washington DC. UL is a for-profit concern which not only digitized "all human knowledge" but created AIP int...more
Jessica
I appreciate the original idea of the Turing Hopper, and all the other AIP's, and the story was a good one. But I found the way it was styled a bit off-putting. More than half the book in italics, well let me just say that I am glad for normal fonts. I understand the reason for the italics, the inner thoughts of an AIP would need to be represented differently, especially when the character is the protagonist. But I wish the author and her editor would have found a different way. I found myself r...more
Connie
YOU'VE GOT MURDER by Donna Andrews is 298 pages long in the paperback form. This is the first book in the Turing Hopper Series.

Brief Description:

Meet Turing Hopper. She's an Artificial Intelligence Personality--AIP for short--she's a mainframe computer with a mind like Miss Marple...and hardware that hides a suspiciously human heart.

AIP Turing Hopper is in a panic. Her creator, Zack, has missed work for several days. After exhausting her resources, Turing is still far from giving up. For, unlike...more
Chaitra
I did not like it as much as I had hoped. I'll probably still read the next books, but disappointed for now. Turing's fine. The AIP was believable in the beginning, not so much in the second act. She made some silly decisions for an advanced AI. Andrews went really odd by getting Turing to download (?) into a robot which somehow diminished the original Turing in the mainframe? Why wouldn't she clone herself (she even says she did, but not really)? I think Andrews just did not want to write paral...more
Salina
This was a bit of a surprise of a novel. I just picked it up the shelf at the library and started reading. I liked the premise of having an AI PI - artificial intelligence private investigator of sorts.

This is a very promising series, but some parts did put me off. The pages and pages of Turing's inner thoughts went on much too long, I wish the author was able to work those ideas into the story much more seamlessly. I also found that the end of the book was very rushed and I would have appreciat...more
Mysterious Ed
#1 in the Turing Hopper series, won the 2002 Agatha Award for Best Novel. An ingenious premise has research computers develop personality characteristics to better interface with customers. The most efficient one developed "her" personality by being fed a diet of mystery novels and eventually, by self-programming for increased ability, becomes sentient.

Turing Hopper is an Artificial Intelligence Personality housed at Universal Library. Turing's banter with her customers is so down to earth she s...more
Andrea
I really like Donna Andrew's Meg Langslow books so I thought that I would check out this one too. I didn't like it. The premise is that Turing Hopper is an artificial intelligence computer turned sentient being whose programmer goes missing. She unearths all sorts of sinister misdeeds by the company who owns all of the AIs including an unhanded plot to sell them off and kill some of them. Because she's a computer she enlists 2 humans to help her out - including one who is convinced she's a real...more
Kathy
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Diana
Artificial Intelligence Personality Turing Hooper is a mainframe computer in the Universal Library. When she was programmed by Zack, she was given a personality which is somewhat human. When Zack disappears, she notices and eventually suspects foul play. As she communicates with two humans using email and does some sleuthing around the computer system in the Universal Library, irregularities in the company are noticed. Her intelligence helps protect her human helpers. It is an interesting look a...more
Mailis Viiand
New wacky series from Donna whos a pretty fun writer, little bit complicated i think for a person whos not immersed in world of computerology, if i can say it like that...complicated might be the wrong world, maybe just too detailed...or just not my cup of tea...But nerds and IT crowd should have fun with this one...Main character is a computer program, it should be as good as it gets for you referring to mystery books offerings...so if you think you know something about computers, which i can h...more
Brenda
This is the first in a series by an author who has another series I love. I wasn't too sure about it in the beginning, because the main character is an artificial intelligence personality with sentience. A lot of how she gets things done is technical, so a little boring, but the way the author went about making it work out is pretty interesting, so I gave it four stars. I have the next two in the series, so I guess I'll give them a try, but I'm still iffy about if more than one will get stale to...more
Diane ~Firefly~
First time I've ever read a mystery book with an AI program as the protagonist. Definitely and new and interesting POV. Unfortunately, this led to my biggest problem with the book, Turning didn't have anyone to talk to, so she went into long, rambling monologues.

What I enjoyed:
* Seeing Turning grow.
* Poor Maude's interactions with her boss.
* I was surprised by some of the things that happened at the end, even if I didn't like them all.

What could have been better:
* Turning needed an AI sidekick t...more
Sally Wolf
I think there for I am! This is what a AI is thinking and feeling when her programer goes missing. She decides that it is her job to to save him. With a little help from her friends she sets out on a quest that leads to some extraordinary detective work and a weird adventure. Well this book started out very interesting and got better and better until the end where it fell flat on it's face. It falls under the category of well I am done writing now wrap it up. Leaving several plot points hanging....more
Natalie
This is a totally different mystery than I have ever read before. Apparently Donna Andrews won several awards for her creativity in creating a detective/slueth inside of a computer. The premise is great...the writing is typical Donna Andrews (which I love). There were however, some slow points because of the amount of thinking the computer does which has to be explained...and the details were sometimes more than I really wanted to know! Overall I did enjoy it.
Kathy
This is the story of an Artificial Intelligence (Turing) who's programmer goes missing. In her search for him she uncovers some terrible things going on in the company where she and her creator work. There are memorable characters, both human and AI. The book is well written in that I didn't have to think too hard but could stay a step ahead of Turing. I thought the whole AI thing would be interesting, but I really couldn't connect with Turing. I just couldn't really care about what happened to...more
Christina
A book with a very interesting premise. An artificial intelligence that solves crime? I did find it a bit creepy, but like one of the characters, I know the AI meant well. Either way, an interesting and only slightly futuristic read. You can definitely see this happening in the near future. I do have to add that I absolutely love Donna Andrews' bird themed mysteries, so this is quite a switch from those and I find those much more enjoyable.
Rachel
Interesting premise: the detective in this particular mystery (Turing Hopper) is an artificially intelligient sentient search engine. She has developed a crush on her designer, realizes he's missing, and begins mobilizing electronic and living resources to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Fairly inoffensive, with an interesting spin on artificial intelligence developing self awareness, existential angst, and inner debate on what constitutes "life".
Jess
Oct 16, 2007 Jess added it
Shelves: suspensemystery
The interesting thing about this book is that it grew out of a writers' workshop - a challenge to write a mystery/suspense novel with a completely unique protagonist. Enter Turing Hopper, an AI system who was programmed with every mystery novel ever written. It's written in the first person from the AI's viewpoint, and makes for an interesting read. Of course, since there are no acknowledged sentient AIs in existence, Turing is pure speculation on the part of the author - but even so, it poses s...more
Erika
Sep 08, 2012 Erika rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: computer lovers
A cute mystery that also explores the idea of sentient artificial intelligence. I love the part where Turing quips that she has to avoid being like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey "because that tends to creep humans out."

The only downside was that it was a titch predictable as to who the villains were fairly early on, but it was neat to see how Turing managed to foil them.
Monica Willyard
May 10, 2009 Monica Willyard rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: computer-loving mystery buffs
Shelves: bookshare
I love this series! Mysteries plus computers, geeky stuff, neat gadgets, and a classy lady equal my kind of book. :) I hope she writes more books in this series. Did I mention that I love reading these? Yeah, I think I did. These books make being smart cool, and I love the logic and wrestling with some of the questions the books raise.
Sallie
I've only read Andrews other mysteries (Murder with Puffins et al) which have very quirky, funny characters. This one had the main character an Artificial Intelligence Personality (AIP), who has become sentient - but is NOT HAL of 2001 the Space Odyssey infamy. Interesting take on "...a new sleuth for a new age."
Wanda
The main character is Turning Hopper who just happens to be " not a real person" but an artifical intelligence. However, she acts like a real person in the search for her friend Zake. This book is a must for tech mavens and was nominated for Best Novel by the Malice Domestic Society or "Agatha". Great read.
Denise
I really like Donna Andrews books because they are witty and Meg, the heroine, isn't just a silly, slim, beautiful, man-hungry woman. In this book, it really causes one to think about the future of technology especially artificial intelligence. I was introduced to one of the early robots being taught to talk and move about years ago, but this AI has personality. You can really related to her frustrations with her limitations. This book is worth reading especially if you're into technology and el...more
Valerie Patterson
Talk about a unique plot! Andrews delivers in spades. Turing Hopper--the main character--is not a woman to be pushed around. She's also not quite a woman! I enjoyed this book very much. Even though it did not end the way I had hoped it would, the ending was very satisfying.
Sue
I really loved this book! I hadn't heard of this series before, but saw one of them listed on a book swap site I belong to. I decided to get the whole series. The first book didn't disappoint. Viva the artificial intelligence protagonist, Turing!!
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 43 44 next »
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
You've Got Murder (Turing Hopper, #1)
60646
Donna Andrews was born in Yorktown, Virginia, the setting of Murder with Peacocks and Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos, and now lives and works in Reston, Virginia. When not writing fiction, Andrews is a self-confessed nerd, rarely found away from her computer, unless she's messing in the garden

http://us.macmillan.com/author/donnaa...
More about Donna Andrews...
Murder With Peacocks (Meg Langslow, #1) Murder With Puffins (Meg Langslow, #2) Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos (Meg Langslow, #3) Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (Meg Langslow, #4) Owls Well That Ends Well (Meg Langslow, #6)

Share This Book

Your website