P. J. Tracy is the pseudonym of mother-daughter duo P. J. and Traci Lambrecht. They write the popular Monkeewrench series of technology thrillers and their amateur sleuth is Grace MacBride, founder of a game software company in Minneapolis.
In the first book, called simply Monkeewrench (2003), Grace and her oddball staff create a computer game where the killer is always caught and the good guys always win. But their game becomes a nightmare when someone starts duplicating the fictional murders in real life and by the time the police learn of the connection between the murders and the game, three people are already dead.
Monkeewrench won both and Agatha and Anthony Award for Best First Novel. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it “A soundly plotted thriller that fires on all cylinders … an accelerating, unpredictable plot that combines police procedural with technogeek-speak, an array of well-drawn characters, and, most important, witty repartee."
Three more excellent books followed, and, finally, after a four year break, the Monkeewrench crew is back in Shoot to Thrill. They have been recruited by the FBI to investigate a series of murder videos posted on the Web. Using their skills to scour the Net in search of the perpetrator, they must race against the clock to stop a killer in his tracks.
As PW explains, “The Monkeewrench team must create a program that can separate staged death scenes from the real thing. The first death they scrutinize appears to be the drowning murder of a Minneapolis drag queen. A stabbing, two shootings, and a strangulation are among subsequent killings that occur in other cities across the country. They catch a break when the eighth victim, a Medford, Ore., waitress, survives a stabbing. Newcomers will have no trouble getting into the story, and everyone will appreciate the likable characters.”
Donna Andrews, author of the popular and long-lived Meg Langslow mysteries wrote a four title series featuring an Artificial Intelligence Personality (AIP) named Turing Hopper as its detective. Turing (named for AI pioneer Alan Turing) is the star of a vast number of research programs housed at Universal Library (UL) in Crystal City outside Washington, D.C.
In the first book, You’ve Got Murder (2002), when her creator, workaholic computer expert Zack, suddenly disappears, Turing suspects foul play. Fortunately for Zack, when he created her, he downloaded every murder mystery in his library into her memory so Turing would think like a detective. Realizing that she is as homebound as Nero Wolfe, she goes in search of her own Archie Goodwin, and finds two people to do the legwork that will tie Zack's disappearance to the recent accidental death of his colleague and best friend.
Andrews won an Agatha Award for Best Novel for the book and Kirkus said “Ever since HAL ran off the rails in 2001, it's been only a matter of time since somebody put a computer to work on the right side of the law. Turing fills the bill with more energy and charm than most fictional detectives. “
In the Q&A page of her website, in answer to “So what's up with Turing? Will there be any more books?” Andrews answers, “I do plan to continue with Turing when I get the chance. And since I've had discussions with a smaller publisher who's very interested in continuing the series, it's mainly a matter of scheduling. “
In the meantime, fans of her quirky humor will have to content themselves with the soon-to-be released twelfth Langslow mystery, Stork Raving Mad.
