From Amazon.com
These days, isolation and anonymity are clichéd hallmarks of the information age: pundits remark that we have become a fragmented culture of lonely individuals, faces lit by the pale glow of computer screens. With the latest in her University of Michigan mystery series (
The Silly Season,
Black Diamond,
Curly Smoke,
Bleeding Maize and Blue), Susan Holtzer both takes advantage of and challenges these stereotypes.
The Wedding Game is a fast-paced mystery in which neither the reader nor the detective actually "meets" the murder victim or any of the suspects face to face (f2f, as they say online).
Anneke Haagen is feeling a bit frazzled from the demands of running a computer consulting business, readying her new computer game for beta testing, and planning her wedding to Ann Arbor police officer Karl Genesko. It's a good thing she can always count on some friendly give and take with her fellow members of GameSpinners, a private e-mail list for computer game designers, to relax her. Until, that is, member Vince Mattus, "poster boy for road rage on the information highway," gets a decidedly unfriendly and definitely deadly letter bomb. When the FBI finds information that leads them to believe that Mattus had embarked on a special Blackmail Game (no programming skills required), aimed at his fellow GameSpinners, it's up to Anneke and the others to clear themselves as suspects by solving the murder. As one of them wryly posts, "Instead of just spinning our wheels, why don't we approach this the way we'd approach a real game--think of it as a Murder Game. The way I see it, it's basically an rpg, only we're not just role-playing the characters, we ARE the characters." But even games can have serious consequences. As the GameSpinners circle closer to the truth, the stakes grow higher for the murderer among them, and Anneke finds herself the object of his deadly attention.
Middle-aged, opinionated, and talented, Anneke continues to charm as an unorthodox detective, and Holtzer's decision to exploit the logistics and psychology of the Internet as fertile territory for a murder mystery pays off. At once a commentary on the vagaries of modern life and a good-humored send-up of the notion of The Great Detective interrogating his suspects, The Wedding Game will reward those who feel like playing. --Kelly Flynn
From Publishers Weekly
This fourth entry in Holtzer's Blue and Gold series (after The Silly Season) solidifies the author's position as a mystery writer to watch. A week before the wedding of computer programmer and series regular Anneke Haagen and former pro football player turned police lieutenant Karl Genesko, murder threatens to cancel their plans. Both Anneke and Karl become suspects when a letter bomb kills blackmailer Vince Mattus, a member of GameSpinners, an Internet newsgroup for game programmers. FBI officers go over Anneke's computer records, since her name was among those of other GameSpinners on a list next to Vince's desk. After the FBI questions her, she remembers Vince's abortive attempt to blackmail her over the Net, and she soon finds out that he tried the same thing on other newsgroup members. Might one of them have killed Vince to shut him up? While wedding plans proceed, Anneke decides to find the answer to that question. First she prints up the GameSpinner correspondence, giving it to Karl to mull over. Then she suggests to the other programmers that they make an online game of solving the case with just themselves as players. Both mystery lovers and computer buffs will enjoy this imaginative romp in cyberspace, especially Holtzer's on-target discussions of identity on and off the Net. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
