Customer Reviews

Bicycle Shop Murder (Greg Tenorly Suspense Series - #1)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Good Stuff:

The writing is very good. The author keeps a fast pace that makes you turn pages quickly. You read every word so as not to miss a second of the action.

There was minimal description, just enough to get the point across. The author never bogs the reader down with too many details.

The overall plot is a good concept.

The Bad Stuff:

I'm going to try not to repeat things that have already been pointed out, but there were plot holes here you could drive a truck through.

Two law abiding citizens hear on the news that they are wanted for murder by the police, a murder they didn't commit..So, they decide to go spend the night in a cabin instead of turning themselves in? Nope.

They stay at a campground type place with cabins. The lady running the store there, not the one who checked them in, thinks she recognizes them from the pictures on TV, but doesn't turn them in because she could be wrong. Plausible...except...The CAR they were driving was described in detail. It's bright RED. She could have checked out the car easily as later it was said they had it parked outside the cabin. She could have looked at where they checked in because I have never stayed at a hotel/campground/etc. that did not ask for the make/model/license of my car. Also, their names were on television and I don't think they registered under fake names. if I worked in a place like that and thought there might be killers on my property who the police described as 'armed and dangerous', I would have double checked name or car or something.

One more was the trial: I cannot imagine a DA bringing someone on trial based on nothing but one old lady seeing someone leaving a crime scene as she drove by. There was only one witness for the prosecution in a murder trial??? Where are all the experts to prove the murder weapon? Where are the character witnesses, either for the defense or prosecution? It was a two day murder trial? Just inconceivable.


There was a small detail that I wouldn't have mentioned except that it was brought up twice in the book. The bad guy was worried about an envelope because they might have found his DNA on it? I don't think so; I think he was worried about fingerprints. He stated that he didn't lick the stamp or envelope. He was just worried because, at the last minute, he handled the envelope without gloves. That spells fingerprints, not DNA.

Overall:

Regardless of the many issues, it was still kind of fun to read if you could manage to suspend reality.

This is a very talented author who just needs to work his plot lines out better.

This was the first book I read from this author. I liked the pace of the book and the fact that the author moves the story forward very quickly. A lot of dialogue helps on this regards.

However I felt the plot was weak and improbable. I didn't understand and the author did not give a reason why one of the main characters did not call the police after receiving a phone call from a dying woman stating the name of the killer. He then decides to go visit the person the woman named only to tell the person that he was named as a murderer by the dying woman. Surprise! Surprise! The "murderer" denies and our main character has to go back home. What he was expecting? The "murderer" would own up for his crimes based on that flimsy story? As I said above there was no reason given why this pastor/music teacher decided to go investigate. A more beliavable action would be to call the police and tell the story.

The other odd thing was that when he leaves town to go talk with the "murderer" he decides to take a woman that is being investigated for her husband's murder. She is not supposed to leave town. But what the heck - let's invite her along for the sake of the trip.

Another inconsistency - when the bad guy decides to get rid of someone he hires a complete strange, a kid from the city where the victim lives. He offers the kid a lot of money if he would kill the victim. Later on the book we see that he has no problems finding not one but two professional hit men. Why he didn't use one of them to kill the victim is beyond me. And the author does not explain that also.

So I felt there were too many inconsistencies and unbelievable things happening. However I liked the reading anyways. I am planning to read the next book in the series when I have time. I am curious to see how the author will manage to involve this pastor/music teacher in another crime.

PS: I got the book in electronic format for free.

Bicycle Shop Murder
By Robert Burton Robinson
ISBN: 978-1-84685-611-2


Are you looking for adventure, romance and murder? "Bicycle Shop Murder" has all of that. This is the first in the Greg Tenorly mystery series.

The book begins with the death of Sam Spokane, the bicycle shop owner, later in the book it is revealed that he only has a few months to live due to a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer, so why would someone want him dead now?

The setting is Coreyville, Texas, a small town where everyone knows everybody. Greg Tenorly is a divorced music teacher, leads the choir at church, and is a marriage counselor, it all starts when a beautiful red head by the name of Cynthia Blockerman, vice president at First State Bank comes to see Greg. Cynthia is in her late 20's and is married to Troy Blockerman, she has come to see Greg as her marriage is in trouble, her husband drinks a lot, is abusive and she finds herself in a loveless marriage. Troy's normal routine is coming home from work, drinking beer and watching TV until he passes out in the living room. Cynthia usually sleeps in the marital bed alone, which is completely fine with her as she is afraid of Troy especially when he has been drinking.

As the story continues, Greg Tenorly finds himself being called up for jury selection and is then picked and called upon to be a juror in the murder trial of Sam Spokane. Little does Greg know what troubles lay ahead for him? The troubles all begin when one Buford Bellowin a high powered attorney in Dallas wants the black man accused of murdering Sam Spokane found innocent. Greg and Cynthia are thrown together and both their lives are in danger, there have already been several other murders relating to the murder trial, a witness for the prosecution has had a terrible accident and died, one of the jurors is murdered, and the wife of the bicycle shop is murdered. Who is committing these murders and why? Who will be the next target?

Greg and Cynthia are starting to piece together the murders and who is committing them, they think maybe a hit man or maybe 2 different hit men, after driving to Dallas to see Buford. On the way back to Coreyville, they discover they are wanted for murder, and they have a killer after them, things are going from bad to worse. Will they be murder victims or will they be found guilty of murder? You will want to find out the answer to all these questions.

Although the book has a few errors and typos, it is very well written. The characters are believable and common people that you fell as if you know them. "Bicycle Shop Murder" has enough action and intrigue to keep you turning the pages. Robert Burton Robinson has done a wonderful job of bringing murder, mayhem and romance all into one book. I am anxiously awaiting the next one in the series.

I bought this realising it had mixed reviews. Unfortunately it is not even worth the $1 I paid for it. It is badly written and barely readable. I struggled to get through to chapter three and gave up.

The story is incoherent. Trivial details, such as the effects of voice training on accent (which lacks credibility to me) were foregrounded, while significant plot elements were understated or missing.

As far as I could work out the main character was socially dysfunctional church music teacher with a liking for ice cream, who for some obscure reason was being set up to be a key person on a jury. But the prose was so poor it was unconvincing. There were also clumsy references to small town racial prejudice which were jarring, and a possible "God loves us all" theme that was like to jump out again in the last chapter to save the book.

Personally it qualified as an interesting rough draft but nowhere near ready to be published. The kind of book that gives self publishing a bad name.

I was intrigued by the story style here. Revealing the culprit from the beginning and leaving the mystery open as to "why" rather than "who"- This was a rather well written book. Minimal in grammatical errors and editing blunders. Didn't take away from the story... The reason I give this a 3 star... and I could even say 3 1/2...- The main character, who appears to be modeled after the author in the looks department, seems to be a mild mannered type guy but with an obviously "seedy/creepy" viewpoint on things- Probably no different than any red-blooded man but the thoughts revealed that he has kind of make him a "creepy-nerdy" type... Also, his background in the church just make those thoughts even more creepy like... I will look for the next in series and read it just to see how this character evolves. The story itself rolled pretty well, at one point it did seem to skip ahead without much explanation as to how "it" got there but didn't lose me which was good. Again, an easy read, story line well enough to hold attention til the end. I do wish a bit more came out about the "culprit" and the aftermath of everything. But it did end in a natural type way, just seemed more could have been written.

The story is good but not thrilling to boot with the wannabe love story. The problem is the end has one too many flaws if I write them down this will be a spoiler. So read it but don't expect a great end because at the end hocus pocus and everything is all right.

I was introduced to this author and started reading the book in Texas. I didn't get a chance to finish, so I just had to order it and finish it now. It is interesting reading so far, with lots of inter-involved characters. Cann't wait to get it and finish it.

I really enjoyed this book, the writing was done well and the book's pace was nice and consistent. I enjoyed it enough to download the next two books following this one.

This was a mystery/romance with plenty of plot twists to keep the reader interested. I enjoyed it very much.

This was a very enjoyable book to read. It moved quickly, and even though the murderer was known early on, there were enough little twists to keep it entertaining. I enjoyed the subtle humor in the book as well. The formatting for the Kindle was not properly done, but once I got used to those quirks, they were not a distraction. I'd recommend this book as a light mystery to read.