Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Mystery
Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words
Availability
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Author:
“Ita Ryan
was born in Dublin before the iPad was invented.
In her
earlier youth she had to meet people at pre-arranged locations at
pre-determined times because no-one had a mobile phone.
She managed
to scrape through University without the aid of Google, and became a computer
programmer because she was so bored.
She started
writing once she could touch-type fast enough.
Now all is
well. She has Facebook and Twitter accounts and a Samsung Galaxy SIII.
She is
toying with the idea of joining Pinterest, but she's not a very good cook.”
For more,
visit Ryan’s website.
Description:
“Cynthia's
had a rough day.
And now
she's found Nathan's body.
This could
impact negatively on her performance review. Not to mention that the police
obviously suspect her, seeing as how she has no alibi and was sitting outside
his office when he was murdered.
There's
only one thing to do before she's arrested and banged up - find the killer
herself. How hard can that be? Her friends offer to help, and she has a hotline
to Nathan's son. No bother.
Soon
Cynthia's exploits arouse the ire of the enigmatic Superintendent in charge of
the case. She can handle that, but then she attracts the murderer's
attention...”
Appraisal:
If you look
at the title and wonder what IT is and whether there is a typo, IT is
Information Technology (computers), not the word it in all caps. I work in IT in my day job, yet kept looking at the
title (even after I figured it out) and getting confused again, so I suspect
others will make the same mistake.
Cynthia is
a programmer in the IT department. After working late one day she discovers Nathan,
her boss, was murdered while she was sitting at her desk, just outside his
office door. Although notorious among her co-workers for being oblivious to
what is happening in the office when she’s focused on a problem, Cynthia is
convinced the police are going to try pinning the murder on her, unless she can
find the culprit first.
IT Can Be Dangerous should appeal to fans of cozy
mysteries. With several viable suspects (Nathan wasn’t a very popular person)
Cynthia has a plethora of people to investigate and try to rule out.
I had a few
nitpicky issues with the story - the
way a poker tournament in one scene is described was, at a minimum,
unconventional, and there was at least one technical error in the author’s
description of the play of poker. But those were minor and more than offset by
getting the details right in other areas, for example how an IT department
functions. The characters, even the more minor office mates, were well drawn
and realistic.
As for
whodunit, the clues were all there, but I never suspected until the culprit was
revealed at the climax. For me, that is the acid test of a good murder mystery,
to keep me guessing until the end while feeling that the clues I needed to
solve the puzzle were there, if only I’d managed putting them together.
FYI:
Some adult
language.
Uses UK
spelling conventions and a significant amount of UK (or possibly Irish) slang.
Format/Typo Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating: **** Four stars
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