Virtually Dead

October 12, 2009
Real life and the virtual world bleed into one another with dangerous results in this well-plotted mystery from May (Blacklight Blue
). Michael Kapinsky, a photographer for the Orange County (Calif.) Forensic Science Service, is fighting depression after losing his wife to cancer as well as facing a $3 million financial hole. Given his troubles, Michael decides to accept his therapist's suggestion to join an experimental group therapy session conducted in Second Life, an online world with 14 million members. A colleague of Michael's, crime scene investigator Janey Amat, already belongs to SL, where she runs the Twist of Fate Detective Agency. Janey welcomes Michael as her partner, and the pair soon discover that someone is killing avatars in SL as well as their RL (real-life) counterparts. May keeps the reader guessing while also providing an intriguing glimpse into the pleasures and pitfalls of SL.

October 1, 2009
A grieving widower finds the virtual world as deadly as the real one.

Michael Kapinsky is having a hard time coming to terms with his wife's death. His therapist suggests he try group therapy. The sessions take place on Second Life (SL), a virtual world filled with avatars, created personas that can go anywhere, do anything and look any which way. Kapinsky calls his avatar Chas Chesnokov and makes him a Brad Pitt look-alike. He soon discovers Janey, like him a crime-scene employee in real life (RL), who in SL has become a man named Twist, head of a virtual detective agency. Flying around in SL, Kapinsky befriends sex worker Doobie, who introduces him to avatar pole dancing, whorehouses, couple-swapping venues, sex-toy shops, etc. Alas, erotica is not the only thing on offer in SL. Three real-life murders replicate three avatar killings, and $3 million in mob money finds its way from the virtual world into Kapinsky's real bank account, which he taps to settle the mortgage on his fancy house. Can the mob be far behind? Will they off him before the deadly avatar gets a crack at him? Will he stop mooning over his dead wife in the virtual arms of Doobie? Many sexual innuendoes later, all will become clear in both RL and SL.

A smarmy excuse for May (The Killing Room, 2008, etc.) to dabble in X-rated fantasy.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2009
Mays latest mystery ventures into the virtual world of Second Life, as his protagonist, crime-scene photographer Mike Kapinsky, explores the electronic alternate world at the urging of his therapist. Originally intending only to attend group-therapy sessions, Mikes avatar, Chas Chesnokov, soon becomes so deeply involved with his virtual life that it impacts his real life. Working as a PI in Second Life, Mike begins to investigate a series of mysterious deaths that he links to real-world murders. Convinced that the police will never believe the Second Life connection, Mike digs deeper with the help of only his coworker and fellow Second Lifer Janey (aka Twist) and Doobie, a Second Life sex worker. A slow start gradually gains pace as Mike gets deeper into Second Life, and real-life dangers loom, leading to an exciting climax. Recommended for fans of gaming and computer-based mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)