I was really excited for this book because of the setting (gaming store) and the geek culture but it just didn't pan out. ( )

Autumn runs a gaming shop, and when one of her customers is killed in a weird fashion in the middle of a LARP (that's a live-action roleplaying game) her store has sponsored, she takes it upon herself to investigate.

As a dyed-in-the-wool geek gal, myself, I enjoyed Autumn's nerdy pop-culture references and appreciated the fact that one of her motivations in taking the investigation into her own hands was a worry that the murder would play damagingly into the stereotype of gamers as violent weirdos. I mean, I did have someone tell me once, in all seriousness, that I shouldn't play Dungeons and Dragons because it's "Satanic." So I can sympathize entirely.

I do have to say, though, that while the confrontation with the murderer in the end is reasonably exciting, I didn't find the mystery as a whole all that compelling. It's all readable enough, but I do wish I'd cared just a little more about the question of whodunnit than I actually did. ( )