Ian Michaels, a high tech executive in Silicon Valley, has had a couple of unfortunate days. The first day he has an intruder in his house, and the second day he finds a dead body on his bed. The body belongs to his maid, Gwendolyn Goldberg. Although he claims that he has never met his maid face to face, her family and friends seem to think they were a couple. It soon becomes apparent that Ian is the number one suspect in Gwen's murder so his top priorities become clearing his name and finding the true murderer. Who can he trust? Paul Berk, his boss and closest friend? Or Rowena, Gwen's older sister? Or even Officer Fletcher, the police officer who is trying to befriend him?

Ian begins an investigation of his own by talking to the people who were closest to Gwen Goldberg: an old roommate, a rabbi, and an ex-boyfriend. He is following in the footsteps of the police investigation. He finds out some information, but most of it can be used to further seal the case on him. He begins to wonder what secrets Gwen was hiding from her friends and family, and who would go to such great lengths to pin him with her murder. Will he be able to find out the truth before it is too late?

It took me awhile to become interested in DOT.DEAD. There was nothing wrong with the story line, but it was slow reading. I believe the problem was in acclimating myself to a first person point of view, and only being able to see things from Ian's eyes. As I read further into the book, I wanted to know what happened next. DOT.DEAD certainly has a few twists, and it keeps you anticipating the next bit of information. Keith Raffel has done an excellent job on his debut mystery.

Book Summary

When Ian Michaels, a Silicon Valley hotshot, discovers a young, beautiful woman stabbed to death in his house, it takes him a moment to realize that the still-warm corpse is his maid. Far from the gray-haired, cookie-baking grandmother he imagined her to be, Gwendolyn was a stranger to Ian, but her family, old boyfriend, and the Palo Alto police seem to think they were a couple. And despite his best efforts to prove otherwise, the evidence against Ian is growing. It looks like someone is framing Ian for murder, but who?

An executive at a tech firm, Ian is anxious to prove his innocence to his boss and mentor Paul Berk, a Silicon Valley legend. As the investigation heats up so does Ian's interest in Gwendolyn's sister, but can she be trusted?