Access Denied

Turing Hopper #3

by Donna Andrews, Bernadette Dunne (Reading)

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.

Genres: Mystery, Science Fiction, Fiction, Cozy, Cozy Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Humor

Audio CD

First published December 7, 2004

About the author

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...

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm partial to Donna Andrews when it comes to any of her books. As a judge for St. Martin's Agatha's, she had me hooked from the get-go with her first (Agatha Award), winning book "Murder with Peacocks". As if the "bird books" weren't clever (funny) enough, the mysteries intriguing, her Turing Hopper ones are brilliant! I could be wrong, it's just a theory, but I'm guessing Andrews knows a thing or two about the brilliant Grace Brewster Murray Hopper. https://www.womenshistory.org/educati...

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this series on the 3rd book so I was left with a number of questions about the AIP (alien intelligence personality) ,named Turing, that narrates a large portion of the book. Never the less I found it to be an charming story about Turing who simultaneously tries to solve a mystery,keep her identity (or non-identity) a secret and understand and support the humans who assist her in her/it's? endeavors. This light mystery raises (but does not solve) the serious questions of what constitutes humanity and how large a role computers should have in our lives.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turing’s adventures continue. Whilst looking for evidence of T2 on the internet she discovers a credit card scam being perpetrated and when Nestor Garcia’s card is used in the scam everyone starts to investigate. When a man is murdered at a house Tim is surveilling things get complicated. Then the FBI shows up. And Turing has taken an interest in gardening, in Maude’s yard. A good plot with better pacing than the last book in series.

[Mark Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artificial Intelligence Personality Turing Hopper is excited to finally have a clue to the location of a criminal she needs to track down. However, her PI friend Tim gets accused of a murder when he goes to investigate. The characters are still very real, both human and AIP, and the plot is fast moving. Just read the series in order.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[Elsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am impressed with this series. Andrews has taken the cozy murder and inserted some sophisticated technology to do computer and artificial intelligence and come up with a masterful cross-over between science fiction and mystery. I've ordered the sequel and I'm hoping it won't be the last in the series.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just can't get into a sentient computer as the heroine. Sorry.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't wait to see what happens in the next one! The human characters are more involved and knowing the premis saves a ton of reading time...liking each one better than the last one!

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting concept, the AI amateur detective. Not near as good as the Meg Langslow series.

[Margarette Kramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

wasn't very interesting...some of it was complicated. i didn't like that fact that there was no chapters.

[Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.. This book did solve a case, but there were as many questions outstanding at the end of the book as answers revealed. I thought this was the last book and I'm glad to see there is a Book #4: Delete All Suspects. I didn't enjoy this as much as the previous 2 books, but I am looking forward to the next/last book.

Likes:
* (Artificial Intelligence Personality) AIP Turing Hopper at Universal Library (UL)
* Turing's alter ego of the reclusive Alaina Grace, CEO of Alan Grace Corporation
* Maude Graham ~ administrative assistant extraordinaire
* Tim Pincosky has his PI license and is trying to establish his company

* Actor plays Maude's UL boss
* Maude working at UL and also Turing's on-site manager at Alan Grace Corp
* Alan Grace employees making jokes about mysterious and reclusive CEO Alaina Grace/Turing
* Turing planning to move into computer system at Alan Grace Corp
* Couldn't T2 then be the AIP at UL?
* Turing decided to only rant about T2 once a day to Maude at a randomly generated time
* Turing spoofing Tim's office computer for the intruder
* Tim's pre-stakeout drill ~ fresh batteries, spare batteries, spare memory cards, maps, birding kit
* Birding as a stakeout cover story
* Turing putting up deer deterrents in the garden, water blasts & speakers for noise
* Turing using deer deterrents on intruders
* FBI Agent Dan Norris is interested in Maude
* Claudia Diaz - Miami PI that Tim meets & hires in Book #2
* Lawyer Samantha "Sam" P. Jordan learns Turing's secret, female, black attorney
* Sam considering Turing's future civil rights case


Dislikes:
* Turing's POV was in difficult to read italics, different font or bold would've been better
* Another cliffhanger

* Homicide is now Violent Crimes Division
* Nestor Garcia unfound for 6 months
* T2 is sentient and was trapped in a removable disk storage
* Nestor Garcia's credit card used in a credit card fraud/mail order scam
* Tim thinks PI work is usually either boring or dangerous
* Tim falling asleep on surveillance & missing murder
* Tim accused of package thief's murder
* Tim's girlfriend, Nikki Mancini
* Nikki assaults Tim because he isn't answering his phone & shows up at home with Claudia
* Maude annoyed at Turing's over-stepping
* Turing managing Maude's garden
* Turing waking Maude up because deer are eating the garden
* Maude struggling to find and hire an assistant for herself at Alan Grace
* Claudia's undercover debt collector job at PRS (Professional Recovery Services)
* Claudia breaking into PRS after hours to snoop
* Skip tracing dept ~ super debt collectors
* KingFisher has infinite patience with logical problems but none for human foibles
* KingFisher ignoring Turing
* Back filling legal reasons for things they did & things they knew


With-reservations:
violence, murder, lies, secrets, illegal activity for good purposes

Story:
* Turing is sentient (Artificial Intelligence Personality) AIP
* Zack is Turing's creator/programmer
* Zack sad after best friend David dies (1)
* Zack was murdered, UL management wanted to sell off successful AIPs & delete the rest (1)
* Zack created John Dow, a very successful investment AIP to manage his money (1)
* Tim Pincoski, Xeroxist, wants to date assumed human Turing, likes old mysteries & jazz (1)
* Turing learns to talk (1)
* Turing is like Nero Wolfe and realizes that Maude and Tim could be her "legs" or Archie Goodwin (1)
* Turing figures out scheme, builds robot to see Zack, uses her human friends, secretary Maude & copy guy, Tim to help her. Turing pares down to essential self. (1)
* Turing left subset of herself on UL computer & downloaded essentials to robot (1)
* David is alive, faked his death & kills Zack (1)
* UL Security Chief James Smith kills David. Turing detonates bomb & stops Smith. (1)
* Maude & Turing use actor as Maude's boss, VP of Prod Dev. (1)
* Turing setup Alan Grace Corp with Maude's help for financial dabbling (1)
* Setting up Maude & Tim as Alan Grace employees & getting cell phones and laptops (1)
* Tim becomes PI (1)
* Alfred the Lesser (math AIP) and Kingfisher (chess AIP) are closest to sentience (1)
* KingFisher absorbs some of Zack (1)
* Tim has his PI license and is trying to establish his PI company (2)
* Turing setting Tim's office up until he starts making enough money to afford his expenses (2)
* Ray was helping to setup Alan Grace system to house Turing & remove her from UL (2)
* Actor plays Maude's UL boss (2)
* Claudia Diaz - Miami PI that Tim meets & hires (2)
* Kingfisher leading on 7 cybergirlfriends & giving them Ray's picture (2)
* Tim finds Rey Santiago, Ray's alter ego (educational background) (2)
* Claudia says Ray's Spanish accent was Central American not Cuban-American (2)
* Beyond Paranoia teaching unprovoked violence, disregard for human life & morals (2)
* Addictive nature of Beyond Paranoia (2)
* Beyond Paranoia LARP front for crime and pedophiles (2)

[Kyrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turing's obsession with sentience and the differences between AI and humans takes up a large chunk of this book. For me, it was more interesting that the mystery surrounding who is behind a large credit card scheme.
I think the 15 years of technological advances between the book's publication and now make it hard to grasp where the protagonists are in using that technology. I'd think "why don't they just...." and have to remember it wasn't commonly available then.
It also felt a bit like this book was laying groundwork for whatever comes next in this series. I'm this far into it. I might as well finish it. I think there's only two more books.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are quirky things I enjoy about the series, but I always wonder why they trust Tim as a PI, since he's still fairly incompetent at it. It's also surprising that the villains don't win, since in most cases, Turing's group isn't paying enough attention to ward off an attack. As in the previous couple of books, the murders happen casually and sometimes very suddenly, and aren't the focus of the mystery.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good mystery, starring my favorite AIP! Ms. Andrews brought back some of the usual characters and introduced a couple more. She makes them all come alive for me! She is also very good about weaving humor throughout her books.

[Charlotte Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some things have changed in the AI world since this book was written. But many of the conundrums of the relationship between the AI and humans are addressed in the mystery novel context. Very enjoyable read - I'm sorry there are only four in this series.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series continues, with the sentient AI learning the vagaries of human behavior as she adds more human employees who become friends to help her solve the mystery of threats to her existence, and their lives. Again, no real end to the villainy behind the crimes the AI solves and stops.

[Road Worrier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first book in this series. Coming in without previous knowledge was fine. The characters were interesting, and the technology discussion could have been from today if there weren't mention of modems. This is a mystery, and we're all trying to find out what is going on throughout the entire book. Which makes the ending all the more disappointing. I listened to the book so I don't have the exact quote, but there's a statement at the end saying something to the effect of "the things we don't know appear a little bit greater than the things we do know." I guess these 4 books must include a common thread, and if I read Turing Hopper #4, I'll find the satisfaction I was hoping to find at the end of this book.

[Michelle Wakeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still think the premise is highly unlikely, but I loved the story.

[Melissa Follett-Filice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it's just me but the lead character being an AI computer was just weird. The book wasn't bad but plot was a bit weird

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the second! Plot was fantastic and I enjoyed the character growth/development

[Danielle Mccoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outdated but enjoyable series.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A library find.
August 2025.
Interesting.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Access Denied is the third book in the Turing Hopper series by Donna Andrews, and so far it's been the only one that really never quite gelled for me. Plot-wise, we've got Turing and her human allies trying to dig into what looks like credit card fraud on the surface--and what may actually be illicit activity on the part of Nestor Garcia, the criminal they last saw making off with T2, Turing's clone sister. There are some not half-bad subplots involving Turing needing to work at understanding when she's actually pissed off her human compatriots, and some side characters racheting up in importance as Turing begins to try to consider a controlled revelation of her existence.

However, for whatever reason, this time none of it ever quite clicked for me. Jumping back and forth a lot between Turing's POV as well as Tim's and Maude's (and occasionally those of other characters as well) made things feel a little scattered and superficial to me. And I suppose it doesn't help much that I'm actually way more interested in seeing Turing's fellow AIPs develop as characters than I am in the humans. C'mon, Ms. Andrews, work on KingFischer! ;) I'm not ditching the series yet, but it's definitely moved towards the lighter end of my reading spectrum. Two and a half stars.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#3 in the Turing Hopper series. This 2004 entry in the next to last in the series, so the series doesn't have the legs of the author's Meg Langslow series that has 13 entries through 2012. This series though is quite enjoyable and its relatively narrow focus no doubt accounts for it's short life. Although I imagine it could be read as a stand-alone, I would recommend reading it from the beginning - You've Got Murder (2002).

Turing Hopper series - "Artificial Intelligence Personality" Turing Hopper has been monitoring the credit cards of notorious criminal 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 is highly suspicious, so Turing and "her" assistants, including human friends Tim and Maude, 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. As Turing works on the puzzle, she observes everything with the wry, witty musings on human-computer relations that make this "techno-cozy" series a true standout.

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second series that I set out to finish this quarter. Unlike the paranormal one, it is unclear to me whether there will be more books in the future or not. Currently the series ends at #4 (next book).

I would classify this one as a cozy nerd mystery. By that I mean that the ordinary people in this series are a mix of PIs and techies who are working with and supporting an AI computer, who is the prime protagonist named Turing.

Per Wikipedia, "(Alan) Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence." Therefore it is interesting that this is the name of the AI computer in this series. Several issues of ethics and legal questions are raised in this series without clear resolution.

In this particular book, Turing is still trying to chase down the criminal Nestor Garcia, who is believed to have stolen a clone of Turing. When she gets her human helpers to stake out a house and then they get involved in several murders...well, the chase is on.

[Virginia Johnson]

Artificial Intelligence turns detective -- very fun read!

[Flewts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third in this series which features a character which is an artificial intelligence. Donna Andrews writes delightful characters and plots that leave me guessing, and I know when I pick up one of her books, it will be a winner.

One thing I didn't like as much with this book was the long passages in italics that signified the artificial intelligence character as the narrator. I don't remember having a problem with the previous books, so I'm not sure if it's that these passages were longer, or if my eyes are just going bad! In any case, it wasn't a problem with the writing, just the typeface.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Third enjoyable installment in the Turing Hopper mystery series starring a kindly, chatty, female AI as the heroine detective. The 2004 copyright makes some things out of date, but overall, it's still a good story with enjoyable characters and an exciting plot. In this one, Turing continues looking for T2, her copy, which has been taken by the evil master criminal Nestor Garcia. Her friends continue to try to protect her and befriend a computer, as they also look at a credit card fraud case that has just dropped into their laps.

[Leslie aka StoreyBook Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the book was good, what I didn't like was that there were no chapters. I think I've read a book by this author before and that was something I didn't like then either but didn't recognize the author so didn't remember that!

I generally like any books with computers involved and this storyline has a computer with a personality that runs a few companies and helps solve crimes with the few that know that Turing isn't a person but a computer.

[Cara Noyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to find book 2 in the series and read it to fill in some of the gaps. But overall I really enjoyed this story. Turing is quite a main character! Clever. I liked the way they included lawyer Sam into the elite circle of knowing Turing's true identity. But Nestor and T2 are still out there .... I prefer more resolution at the end of books. But this sets up too for a sequel... Has T2 turned to the dark side?

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book! It was my first experience with artificial intelligence as the main character and even narrator for many sections. Although it is the 3rd book in the series enough information is provided to make background clear.
Turing is an artificial intelligence personality (AIP). Together with her human friends she does some sleuthing to uncover a credit card scam, nab a killer and gains new info about her missing clone, T2.