Immortal Game [Hardcover]

The aptly named Edwin Bishop, a multimillionaire entrepreneur, has developed advanced chess software able to make decisions while playing human opponents, unlike the usual software that tends to follow set moves. Bishop himself is a highly intelligent, arrogant man who lives his eccentric life in his mansion with several paid female companions. He is unaware that his software has been stolen until he stumbles across a vendor demonstrating his game at a trade show. Enter Riordan, who must negotiate his way through the world of high technology, jazz, and the underground arena of S/M as he searches for the missing software. His sometime partner in this venture is Chris Duckworth, who works part-time for Bishop's competitor, and who, in his spare time, works as a transvestite at the Stigmata bar. The characters in this charming, fresh, and entertaining mystery are fully fleshed; the dialogue is fast, compelling, and witty; and the grainy photographs that accompany each chapter opening add a pleasing dimension to this delightful first outing. --Otto Penzler

Part of the pleasure of Coggins' book is that it's well-grounded in the San Francisco familiar to those who know the city, and not in the fog-shrouded landscape of tourist brochures. Riordan's excursions take him from S&M clubs to East Palo Alto and back, with stops in some mansions and some single-room-occupancy hotels along the way.

The Immortal Game is a panoramic tour de force conducted by the enjoyably jaded Riordan, a detective both deadpan and boyish, a strangely San Francisco combination. And thanks to Coggins' tight pacing and well-thought-out plot, the book never loses its white-knuckled grip on reality, even as it bottom-trolls through parts of town that definitely aren't on the official site list." -- San Francisco Chronicle, January 2, 2000

The Immortal Game deserves to take its place in the immortal tradition of the classic detective novel. -- Donna Levin, author of Extraordinary Means and California Street

Mark Coggins brings us good writing, wit, a great plot idea and an intriguing high tech background in The Immortal Game. Don't miss it. -- Tony Hillerman, author of the best-selling Navajo mysteries

Mark Coggins writes tight prose with a clean, unadorned style; he is a Hammett for the turn of the 21st century. The chess background of The Immortal Game would have pleased Raymond Chandler, and if I may be excused the hubris of placing myself in their company, the character of August Riordan interests me no end. I hope to see a good deal more from this fine writer. -- Loren D. Estleman, author of The Hours of the Virgin and Thunder City