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August Riordan #1
The Immortal Game
When the world's most innovative computer chess software is stolen, wisecracking, jazz bass-playing PI August Riordan is hired to find it.
Sifting through a San Francisco peopled with bruising, ex-NFL henchmen, transvestite techno geeks, and alluring, drug-addicted dominatrices, Riordan has got his work cut out for him.
But with a smart-ass attitude like Riordan's, nothing is easy ...
A darkly comic sojourn through a town unrecognizable from the Tony Bennett song and the Rice-a-Roni ads, The Immortal Game is a Shamus, Barry, and Independent Publisher (IPPY) award nominee.
Sifting through a San Francisco peopled with bruising, ex-NFL henchmen, transvestite techno geeks, and alluring, drug-addicted dominatrices, Riordan has got his work cut out for him.
But with a smart-ass attitude like Riordan's, nothing is easy ...
A darkly comic sojourn through a town unrecognizable from the Tony Bennett song and the Rice-a-Roni ads, The Immortal Game is a Shamus, Barry, and Independent Publisher (IPPY) award nominee.
227 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
7 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Mark Coggins
21 books20 followersMark Coggins’ work has been nominated for the Shamus and the Barry crime fiction awards and selected for best of the year lists compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Detroit Free Press and Amazon.com, among others. His novels Runoff and The Big Wake-Up won the Next Generation Indie Book Award and the Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) respectively, both in the crime fiction category.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 19, 2024
I asked for a copy of his newest book, Geisha confidential because it takes place in Japan, not realizing it was a series. I had never heard of this author and was surprised to see that this book was written in 1999 when I lived in the San Francisco Bay area. I loved all the SF references.
The story is a good one, and I loved the cast of characters. Riordan is a PI hired to find a stolen video game.
There are a few murders and Riordan gets beaten up one too many times for me, but the snappy dialogue, which is sometimes laugh out loud funny, will have me buying the rest of the books.
Be sure to see my review of Geisha confidential.
The story is a good one, and I loved the cast of characters. Riordan is a PI hired to find a stolen video game.
There are a few murders and Riordan gets beaten up one too many times for me, but the snappy dialogue, which is sometimes laugh out loud funny, will have me buying the rest of the books.
Be sure to see my review of Geisha confidential.
August 18, 2022
I enjoyed this story and all the references to San Francisco. And I liked August Riordan and the cast of characters he encountered. I also liked the 40s-hard-boiled-detective style of writing. But I felt at times that this slang got in the way of clear writing and left me a little confused. I also felt let down that the chess game was ignored except in the beginning and end. I thought that so much more could have been done with chess moves in terms of parallels to the tale that unfolded. But overall, I thought it was a good read.
December 19, 2019
Definitely loved this book.
San Francisco PI who has a wicked sense of humor.
Did not enjoy the times he was beat up - but everything else was a delight.
This plot involved the stolen chess computer program, which was a bit of a macguffin really.
The focus was on finding the suspected thief, and August was always just a step behind on that.
I borrowed a copy from the public library and definitely want to read more.
San Francisco PI who has a wicked sense of humor.
Did not enjoy the times he was beat up - but everything else was a delight.
This plot involved the stolen chess computer program, which was a bit of a macguffin really.
The focus was on finding the suspected thief, and August was always just a step behind on that.
I borrowed a copy from the public library and definitely want to read more.
December 4, 2021
i was in a HUGE reading slump, but then i picked up this book and literally couldnt put it down. i read it in a few days and was captivated by the story and the characters, especially the main character. i wasn’t expecting this book to be filled with action and this entertaining, but it definitely was.
Want to read
December 6, 2019Synopsis: the world's most innovative, computer chess software is stolen, and wisecracking, jazz artist / PI August Riordan is hired to find it.
July 17, 2020
Very good
June 14, 2023
Great detective story with many twists and turns and filled with interesting characters. Hard to put down.
August 13, 2023
A great story in a private eye series
November 21, 2025
Good PI detective mystery centering its story in San Francisco.
December 4, 2008
I have to confess that when I got The Immortal Game, I wasn’t sure I’d like it. It has chessmen on the front cover, after all, and I think the only thing more boring than watching a chess game is to read about it. But don’t let the cover fool you: I couldn’t put this book down. And it wasn’t just the quick pace, clever plot, and even more clever wit — the writing is clean and Coggins’s style has a familiar-yet-fresh feel.
Fans of Sue Grafton’s witty PI Kinsey Millhone, will love August Riordan, a string bass-playing, superstitious skeptic. Riordan is hired by eccentric (aren’t they all?) multimillionaire computer game developer, Edwin Bishop, to recover a stolen chess software program. It sounds simple enough, but Coggins keeps complicating things for Riordan until the reader can’t imagine how the guy is going to keep extricating himself from the situations he gets into.
The Immortal Game takes you on a tour of San Francisco – and I’m not talking about a nice tourist ride on the trolley. Riordan visits, among other places, a Victorian house-turned-drag-club called Stigmata and an exclusive S&M establishment known as the Power Station. And even while the reader is there, taking it all in with our hero, we’re never — well, not often, anyway — left feeling uncomfortable or like we shouldn’t be there poking around.
A black-and-white photo (Coggins is the photographer) opens each chapter. This not only adds to the authenticity of Riordan’s adventures, but acts almost like a not-so-subtle foreshadowing device. I like it. Coggins also uses cool chapter titles such as, “a detective or a punching bag,” and “honest dale’s used cars.” The entire atmosphere of this book is seedy yet classy and irreverent as hell.
Other readers have compared Coggins’s first novel to Chandler, but I think August Riordan is more fun than Philip Marlow.
From The Big Sleep: "She was trouble. She was tall and rangy and strong-looking. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle. She had a good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower lip was full."
From The Immortal Game:“She was sleek and dark and radiated sex appeal the way a Franklin stove radiates heat. She just about wilted me. She wore a black bolero jacket made of ultra-suede with little puffs at the shoulders over a flame-colored silk blouse.”
Now, forget that a typical guy (and I risk eternal damnation here because I’m stereotyping) doesn’t know that it’s called a bolero jacket, what ultra-suede is, or that flame is a distinctly different color than just “red.” Riordan becomes a hero in my eyes because he’s noticing more than the shape of a brow or a leg. He sees and describes things in vivid terms. This is a guy who isn’t so bad after all…
In 2000, The Immortal Game was nominated by The Private Eye Writers of America for the Shamus Award, the Barry Award, and was chosen as a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Awards.
If you blow through the book in a couple of days like I did, don’t despair. Coggins has another: Vulture Capital.
Fans of Sue Grafton’s witty PI Kinsey Millhone, will love August Riordan, a string bass-playing, superstitious skeptic. Riordan is hired by eccentric (aren’t they all?) multimillionaire computer game developer, Edwin Bishop, to recover a stolen chess software program. It sounds simple enough, but Coggins keeps complicating things for Riordan until the reader can’t imagine how the guy is going to keep extricating himself from the situations he gets into.
The Immortal Game takes you on a tour of San Francisco – and I’m not talking about a nice tourist ride on the trolley. Riordan visits, among other places, a Victorian house-turned-drag-club called Stigmata and an exclusive S&M establishment known as the Power Station. And even while the reader is there, taking it all in with our hero, we’re never — well, not often, anyway — left feeling uncomfortable or like we shouldn’t be there poking around.
A black-and-white photo (Coggins is the photographer) opens each chapter. This not only adds to the authenticity of Riordan’s adventures, but acts almost like a not-so-subtle foreshadowing device. I like it. Coggins also uses cool chapter titles such as, “a detective or a punching bag,” and “honest dale’s used cars.” The entire atmosphere of this book is seedy yet classy and irreverent as hell.
Other readers have compared Coggins’s first novel to Chandler, but I think August Riordan is more fun than Philip Marlow.
From The Big Sleep: "She was trouble. She was tall and rangy and strong-looking. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle. She had a good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower lip was full."
From The Immortal Game:“She was sleek and dark and radiated sex appeal the way a Franklin stove radiates heat. She just about wilted me. She wore a black bolero jacket made of ultra-suede with little puffs at the shoulders over a flame-colored silk blouse.”
Now, forget that a typical guy (and I risk eternal damnation here because I’m stereotyping) doesn’t know that it’s called a bolero jacket, what ultra-suede is, or that flame is a distinctly different color than just “red.” Riordan becomes a hero in my eyes because he’s noticing more than the shape of a brow or a leg. He sees and describes things in vivid terms. This is a guy who isn’t so bad after all…
In 2000, The Immortal Game was nominated by The Private Eye Writers of America for the Shamus Award, the Barry Award, and was chosen as a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Awards.
If you blow through the book in a couple of days like I did, don’t despair. Coggins has another: Vulture Capital.
September 20, 2007
The Immortal Game - G
Mark Coggins
Meet Edwin Bishop: a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who has founded and taken public several very successful software game companies. Highly intelligent, arrogant, yet unschooled in social graces, Bishop lives an eccentric life in his Silicon Valley mansion with several paid female companions.
Bishop has developed a software program to play chess against human opponents that he claims is the most advanced ever written, but before it is released, he finds that the software has been stolen when he stumbles across a vendor demonstrating the game at a trade show.
Enter August Riordan: a jazz bass-playing private eye who is cynical, irreverent and given to speaking his mind with unreconstructed candor. Although Bishop wants to hire a discreet private detective with a strong sense of professional ethics, as Riordan says, It was his tough luck he happened to pick me.
Riordan careens through the very modern milieu of Silicon Valley in his quest for the chess program, enmeshing himself in more than just high technology. Jazz music, the underground world of S&M and an unlikely partnership with Chris Duckworth, a smart aleck gay man whom he meets at a bar called The Stigmata, are all part of the intriguing adventure.
Interesting SF PI. Perpetual sarcasm gets tiring.
Mark Coggins
Meet Edwin Bishop: a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who has founded and taken public several very successful software game companies. Highly intelligent, arrogant, yet unschooled in social graces, Bishop lives an eccentric life in his Silicon Valley mansion with several paid female companions.
Bishop has developed a software program to play chess against human opponents that he claims is the most advanced ever written, but before it is released, he finds that the software has been stolen when he stumbles across a vendor demonstrating the game at a trade show.
Enter August Riordan: a jazz bass-playing private eye who is cynical, irreverent and given to speaking his mind with unreconstructed candor. Although Bishop wants to hire a discreet private detective with a strong sense of professional ethics, as Riordan says, It was his tough luck he happened to pick me.
Riordan careens through the very modern milieu of Silicon Valley in his quest for the chess program, enmeshing himself in more than just high technology. Jazz music, the underground world of S&M and an unlikely partnership with Chris Duckworth, a smart aleck gay man whom he meets at a bar called The Stigmata, are all part of the intriguing adventure.
Interesting SF PI. Perpetual sarcasm gets tiring.
November 25, 2010
I found this book to be very readable, something not all books succeed at. The protagonist's wit was entertaining albeit cocky at times. The action progressed methodically and made sense all the way. All in all, a really good book.
Two things that I didn't enjoy was the unnecessary fact that the author included a scene where the protagonist watches a sex tape, after the plot has come to a conclusion. It's as if the author had never written a sex scene before wrote this one even though it was wholly unnecessary. Also, calling chess a theme in this book is giving it a larger role than it actually had -- the protagonist must recover some stolen chess software. (An aside, the owner of the software claims that this is the first software that thinks like a human -- balancing short term losses against long term gains. This is untrue, chess software has been declining gambits and beating humans for years). It's as if chess -- only seen at the beginning and end -- was added by the author in the hope that another group of people would read it.
I couldn't decide on what rating to give this novel, feeling that 3 stars was too low but 4 too generous. If GoodReads did half stars, I think 3.5 stars would be spot on.
Two things that I didn't enjoy was the unnecessary fact that the author included a scene where the protagonist watches a sex tape, after the plot has come to a conclusion. It's as if the author had never written a sex scene before wrote this one even though it was wholly unnecessary. Also, calling chess a theme in this book is giving it a larger role than it actually had -- the protagonist must recover some stolen chess software. (An aside, the owner of the software claims that this is the first software that thinks like a human -- balancing short term losses against long term gains. This is untrue, chess software has been declining gambits and beating humans for years). It's as if chess -- only seen at the beginning and end -- was added by the author in the hope that another group of people would read it.
I couldn't decide on what rating to give this novel, feeling that 3 stars was too low but 4 too generous. If GoodReads did half stars, I think 3.5 stars would be spot on.
February 6, 2012
Mark Coggins' "The Immortal Game" is a well-written, albeit monotone, mystery that suffers several mortal wounds that keep it from being the timeless classic it strives to be.
To begin with, the chapter-starting photos gave the book a somewhat juvenille pulp fiction-feel and seemed to lower the level of writing a bit. I enjoyed the hard-boiled banter between August and the other characters...to a point. But Coggins tends to give all his characters that sarcastic, shady sense of self. After a while, everyone tends to sound the same. In the end, few of the characters are memorable or distinguishable. This overall monotone manner seems to bog down the pace and slow what is an otherwise well-thought-out plot.
Finally,chess doesn't seem to play as big a role (or even metaphor) as the title suggests. It becomes an afterthought that bookends the plot (showing up in the beginning and end) but not really explored deeply within.
All-in-all, August Riordan is an updated Phillip Marlowe and an approximate Spenser in his lifestyle and attitudes. But when everyone--every scene--is soaked in sarcasm, there is no room for the novel to grow on the reader. Sadly, The Immortal Game is quite a mortal reading experience that doesn't separate itself from the middle of the mystery milieu.
To begin with, the chapter-starting photos gave the book a somewhat juvenille pulp fiction-feel and seemed to lower the level of writing a bit. I enjoyed the hard-boiled banter between August and the other characters...to a point. But Coggins tends to give all his characters that sarcastic, shady sense of self. After a while, everyone tends to sound the same. In the end, few of the characters are memorable or distinguishable. This overall monotone manner seems to bog down the pace and slow what is an otherwise well-thought-out plot.
Finally,chess doesn't seem to play as big a role (or even metaphor) as the title suggests. It becomes an afterthought that bookends the plot (showing up in the beginning and end) but not really explored deeply within.
All-in-all, August Riordan is an updated Phillip Marlowe and an approximate Spenser in his lifestyle and attitudes. But when everyone--every scene--is soaked in sarcasm, there is no room for the novel to grow on the reader. Sadly, The Immortal Game is quite a mortal reading experience that doesn't separate itself from the middle of the mystery milieu.
March 6, 2014
Mark Coggins' debut novel set in San Francisco has it's entertaining moments with decent characterization and (at times) witty dialogue. The plot is just convoluted enough to maintain interest.However,the repartee' is a little too cute in places and lacks the cleverness apropos of Spenser or Elvis Cole. Coggins' fails to bring off that seemingly effortless savoir faire that exemplifies the popularity of top line authors such as Robert B.Parker and Robert Crais.
Another thing that really bugged me was Riordan's blase' response when his beautiful standup bass was destroyed early on by thugs.I was a musician in my youth (garage band) and I developed a great attachment to my "axe". I know professionals who would be totally distraught if their instrument of choice was destroyed ala' Auggie Riordan's "Classic" $5000+ standup bass; yet Riordan seems to laugh it off and doesn't even mention it again until the end of the story when he offhandedly says he can "pick up" another one somewhere in town.I find that completely implausible and something his editor failed to correct. Sloppy.
I will wait a bit before attempting the remaining books in this series. After all "The Immortal Game" is a debut novel. Everyone deserves a second chance.
Another thing that really bugged me was Riordan's blase' response when his beautiful standup bass was destroyed early on by thugs.I was a musician in my youth (garage band) and I developed a great attachment to my "axe". I know professionals who would be totally distraught if their instrument of choice was destroyed ala' Auggie Riordan's "Classic" $5000+ standup bass; yet Riordan seems to laugh it off and doesn't even mention it again until the end of the story when he offhandedly says he can "pick up" another one somewhere in town.I find that completely implausible and something his editor failed to correct. Sloppy.
I will wait a bit before attempting the remaining books in this series. After all "The Immortal Game" is a debut novel. Everyone deserves a second chance.
April 15, 2014
A good read indeed!
Well, in my case, a good book to listen to over my car speaker, while driving back home from Florida. I loved it.
Witty comebacks don't define August Riordan's character, but they sure laminate his cynical view of the world, and make the book even more enjoyable.
The author brings the golden age of PI fiction into the modern era, and the gathering of the main characters at the end of the book to dot the "I"s and cross the "t"s is reminiscent of many a story's ending by Agatha Christie.
The plot is clever and twisted, but not complex. The dialogue is engaging, and helps in the evolution of the characters, rather than leaving that task to the narrator alone.
I gave the book 5 stars, although I have a little of criticism:
I understand the need for the S&M references and scenes in the context of the story and to explain motives in a crime story. What I don't understand is why emphasize the transgender orientation of a main helper to our techno-phobe PI. (No, I don't believe using that to show August in a tolerant light would hold as a good enough reason). I felt that the transgender issue was forced unnecessarily into the story.
Still, it is a good book to recommend to you all, and a good podcast to keep on my iPod.
Well, in my case, a good book to listen to over my car speaker, while driving back home from Florida. I loved it.
Witty comebacks don't define August Riordan's character, but they sure laminate his cynical view of the world, and make the book even more enjoyable.
The author brings the golden age of PI fiction into the modern era, and the gathering of the main characters at the end of the book to dot the "I"s and cross the "t"s is reminiscent of many a story's ending by Agatha Christie.
The plot is clever and twisted, but not complex. The dialogue is engaging, and helps in the evolution of the characters, rather than leaving that task to the narrator alone.
I gave the book 5 stars, although I have a little of criticism:
I understand the need for the S&M references and scenes in the context of the story and to explain motives in a crime story. What I don't understand is why emphasize the transgender orientation of a main helper to our techno-phobe PI. (No, I don't believe using that to show August in a tolerant light would hold as a good enough reason). I felt that the transgender issue was forced unnecessarily into the story.
Still, it is a good book to recommend to you all, and a good podcast to keep on my iPod.
January 13, 2013
If I hadn't been reading this book in Chinese in order to improve my language skills, I
wouldn't have finished it. Many people like the hard-boiled, wise-cracking private eye genre,
but I do not. Add in all the kinky sex and thin plot, and this book had me wishing for it
to be over. Read the rest of this review only if interested in languages.
The translation was horrible. Someone should tell the author. Many of the slang
terms were completely misunderstood by the translator and other things were completely omitted.
I have a copy of the book in English to get me through the names because the Chinese have
designated words they'll use for names and use them even if they don't sound right. For
example, they've got words that have the R sound but don't use them in names, using words
with the L sound instead so unless you're extremely familiar with all their transcriptions
you can't figure out a name like Frank, which they render as Fa Lan Ke...
wouldn't have finished it. Many people like the hard-boiled, wise-cracking private eye genre,
but I do not. Add in all the kinky sex and thin plot, and this book had me wishing for it
to be over. Read the rest of this review only if interested in languages.
The translation was horrible. Someone should tell the author. Many of the slang
terms were completely misunderstood by the translator and other things were completely omitted.
I have a copy of the book in English to get me through the names because the Chinese have
designated words they'll use for names and use them even if they don't sound right. For
example, they've got words that have the R sound but don't use them in names, using words
with the L sound instead so unless you're extremely familiar with all their transcriptions
you can't figure out a name like Frank, which they render as Fa Lan Ke...
May 1, 2015
This book took me far longer to read than it should have. Don't know why exactly because I liked the prose (very Philip Marlowe in style. Noir.) and the plot was interesting. Loved the minor characters and wandering around in this world. But it seemed I needed to read the story in small doses and so for that reason, for that unnamed thing that made me put the book down now and again, I'm taking a star away from my review.
Otherwise, the plot of wronged chessmaster and detective, the seamy side of San Francisco, all of that made for an enjoyable mystery that left me guessing. I'll definitely be looking for the next book in the series.
Otherwise, the plot of wronged chessmaster and detective, the seamy side of San Francisco, all of that made for an enjoyable mystery that left me guessing. I'll definitely be looking for the next book in the series.
February 26, 2014
PROTAGONIST: August Riordan, PI
SETTING: San Francisco
SERIES: #1 of 3
RATING: 3.5
WHY: PI August Riordan has been hired by a software entrepreneur, Edwin Bishop, to find a copy of a highly sophisticated software program that he developed for chess players. He believes it was stolen by his sexual assistant and passed on to a competitor who will release it to market. The head of the other company is murdered , and Riordan finds himself struggling to unravel the truth. Riordan is a likeable PI, handy with the wisecrack - a bit too much of that actually. Surprisingly, the book has very little to do with chess.
SETTING: San Francisco
SERIES: #1 of 3
RATING: 3.5
WHY: PI August Riordan has been hired by a software entrepreneur, Edwin Bishop, to find a copy of a highly sophisticated software program that he developed for chess players. He believes it was stolen by his sexual assistant and passed on to a competitor who will release it to market. The head of the other company is murdered , and Riordan finds himself struggling to unravel the truth. Riordan is a likeable PI, handy with the wisecrack - a bit too much of that actually. Surprisingly, the book has very little to do with chess.
July 6, 2011
Standard first book in a mystery series with all the usual tropes and a big emphasis on the Bay Area setting. But note this is 3 stars on the genre scale; does it deserve the same rating as say Mitchell's Number 9 Dream? Of course not -- though, interestingly, there is one moment (protagonist's pouring cream into a cup of coffee and resultant pattern) that both authors describe with a weirdly similar but unusual analogy. Guess some things are universal.
September 13, 2009
I got this book because I came across an on line essay the author did on one of my favorites, Chandler's The Long Good Bye.
The detective is hardboiled a man that can take punishiment, is smarter than clients think and doesn't expect happy endings. It is set in San Francisco and you get a feel for the town like a Hammett novel would give you
I got two of this others and will read them soon.
The detective is hardboiled a man that can take punishiment, is smarter than clients think and doesn't expect happy endings. It is set in San Francisco and you get a feel for the town like a Hammett novel would give you
I got two of this others and will read them soon.
June 8, 2011
Fun and entertaining, and a good introduction to August Riordan, but it falls a bit flat as compared with some of the later entries in the series. Especially the final scene where everything is finally explained ... as the main characters lunch at McDonald's and explain it all. Definitely don't miss this one, but they do get much better.
February 4, 2015
August is something of a stereotype--the hard-boiled private eye who can take it as well as dish it out; who has a tough exterior that hides a sensitive guy with a good sense of humor; who has a maybe overgrown sense of honor that repeatedly gets him into trouble.
But the book is a fun and good read.
But the book is a fun and good read.
August 25, 2008
Pretty great first book in the August Riordan series. Story moves along well, but it's Riordan who's the main draw for me. He's a compelling character who's tough but not a larger-than-life badass and sarcastic but not an annoying wiseass. I'm also a sucker for anything set in SF...
August 9, 2009
Great book so far. Love the local San Francisco lore and the clever prose that harkens back to Chandler and Hammett.
April 29, 2010
Is there a star for "i don't remember anything from this book"? I had to search to find out it was a mystery that takes place in Silicon Valley, and even then it was vague
September 30, 2011
I'm loving the podcast version of this book that Mark's been doing over at CrimeWAV.com. He's totally rocking me every week!
December 28, 2013
Good chess novel.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews