Dataman

by Tom Mitcheltree

Fremont High School, Portland, Oregon, has just become the center of intense media attention--two of its teens have been murdered while "tagging" a school wall. Attention then shifts to what looks to become an epidemic of "tagger" murders as teen after teen is shot to death with a long-range rifle, usually in the dead of the night, while the boys are practicing their "art." Stumped by these random acts of terror, the Portland police approach information specialist Tom Walkinshaw--alias Dataman--and ask him to work his computer magic to help them discover a pattern in the murders, and perhaps the name of the murderer. Agreeing to get involved, even though he has several other active cases to unravel--a missing father; a computer blackmail scheme; a couple of county land statutes to plot--Walkinshaw soon realizes that he's become a target as his data programs lead him byte-by-byte to another computer wizard. And in this real-life game of computer cat-and-mouse, there can only be one winner--and the killer is determined that it won't be Dataman!

238 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998