Nell: Marshal of Bodie
Finalist for Killer Nashville’s 2022 Claymore Award for Best Historical!
in the winter of 1892, the gold-mining town of Bodie, California is in decline. Nell Doherty, an 18-year-old young woman with a wooden leg, dreams of leaving and becoming a Pinkerton detective. A tragic shooting presents her with an opportunity to prove she has the skills needed to work for the Pinkertons. Over the objections of most of the town’s residents, Bodie’s justice of the peace deputizes Nell. With the help of Rags, her half-Irish, half-Chinese best friend, Nell investigates the shooting. As they unearth the details of the mystery, Nell and Rags become the targets of ruthless desperadoes who won’t let anyone get between them and a fortune.
PRAISE FOR NELL: MARSHAL OF BODIE
“John Mullen has a Western-mystery winner in Nell: Marshal of Bodie. Nell is an intrepid, determined protagonist who allows nothing to stand in the way of her dream to become a Pinkerton agent—not murder, mayhem, or missing gold. Mullen portrays the late 19th-century gold-rush town of Bodie, California, with a nuanced and enthusiastic eye, while weaving a twisty mystery replete with suspects and red herrings. Readers who love mysteries featuring strong female characters set in the iconic West will find much to enjoy in Nell: Marshal of Bodie.”
—Ann Parker, author, award-winning Silver Rush mystery series
“I loved this book. A real gem. Wonderful voice, wonderful prose. A strong female protagonist who easily carries the story. The three-dimensional characters so well drawn they could walk off the page and have a cup of coffee with you.”
—David Putnam, bestselling author of the Bruno Johnson series
“Nell: Marshal of Bodie is an engaging and rollicking tale with a plucky heroine.”
—Anne Louise Bannon, author of the Old Los Angeles mysteries
Release Date: July 4th, 2015
CALCULATING MURDER
As a computer with a human personality, Dick Young struggles to understand people. Some would deny personhood to Dick, others who fear him would take him apart chip by chip.
After he witnesses a bloody murder, Dick offers to assist the San Diego Police Department catch the killer. But when the search for the murderer turns up a second body, Dick’s Satisfaction Index plummets. He breaks company with the police and begins investigating the case on his own. As he follows the clues, Dick learns more and more about humans: how they live, how they love and how they murder. He will need that knowledge to overcome the killer who threatens to destroy Dick and everyone that Dick holds dear.
ORDER DIGITAL DICK:
iBooks Barnes&Noble Kobo Smashwords
Discussion Questions for Digital Dick
- The protagonist of the book, Dick Young, is a sentient Artificial Intelligence. Within the fictional world of the novel, Dick is a thinking, feeling being. Would you consider Dick to be a ‘person?’ Why or why not?
- Alan Turing, the English mathematician and early AI theorist said: “In attempting to construct such [thinking] machines we should not be irreverently usurping His power of creating souls, any more than we are in the procreation of children: rather, we are, in either case, instruments of His will providing mansions for the souls that He creates.” Early in the book, Dick argues with a radio evangelist about whether or not he has a soul. Do you believe that an Artificial Intelligence could have a soul?
- At different points in the novel, Dick and his human ‘sister’ Jane say they love each other. Does the phrase “I love you” mean the same thing when spoken by Jane as when it is spoken by Dick? Is human love the same as AI love?
- What rights should Dick, or any autonomous AI, be given? (Would you allow an AI to vote or run for office? Could an AI get married to another AI? To a human?)
- Under what circumstances would you ride in a “driver-less” automobile controlled by AI?
- What jobs would you allow autonomous AI to hold? Would you allow an AI to perform surgeries? Babysit children? Pilot a commercial airliner?
- Armies around the globe have built armed robots. Some of them can be made autonomous, letting the robot decide when and whom to shoot. Should robots be allowed to decide when to shoot humans? Should Shaun have installed a pistol inside Dick’s printer?
- Would you want an AI to be able to ‘tell a little white lie’ if it meant sparing someone’s feelings? Should an AI be able to lie in order to save a human life? To save its own life? Is Dick justified in lying to Detective Burroughs about where Dick plans to go in Mexico?