Dead Egotistical Morons: A Paul Turner Mystery [Hardcover]

Mark Richard Zubro (Author), Mark Zubro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2003 | Series: Paul Turner, 7

Boys4U is the world's most popular singing group - at least among teenaged girls - and they have closed out their sold-out world tour with a series of shows in Chicago's brand new arena. The premier group of the inexplicably popular "boy band" trend, they've just finished their very last concert of the tour. While hundreds of tour members, well-wishers, label executives, and various hangers on wait to celebrate another wildly successful tour, the lead singer is found murdered - shot in the back of the head at close range - in the shower of the backstage dressing area.

To make matters more distressing, the crime itself was almost impossible - there was tight security on the shower area at all times, the only other people back there were the other members of the band, and none of the dozens of people in the next room report having heard a shot. While the international press is engaged in an unprecedented feeding frenzy over the sensationalistic murder, Chicago Police Detectives Paul Turner and his partner Buck Fenwick have pulled the unenviable task of investigating the murder. But even the initial appearances are deceiving and as they dig deeper into the case, they uncover more disturbing truths beneath the wholesome façade of Boys4U. Now they have untangle an increasingly complex web if they are to stop a determined killer before more victims are claimed.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When the leader of the world's most popular boy band is found murdered after a concert, detectives discover dissension, power plays, and cruelty beneath the band's carefully protected image. Was the murdered star leaving the band because his girlfriend was the worm in a formerly sweet, wholesome apple? Is Riveting Records president Jonathon Zawicki power-crazed, sex-crazed, or both for forcing band members to have sex with him? Hatchetman critic Randall Blundlefitz claims he will solve the murder--and make that two when a second band member is pulled from icy Lake Michigan. Ah, rock 'n' roll, sex, and superstar life in the fast lane! What better backdrop for the drop-dead-funny cop banter of Zubro's series starring gay Chicago detective Paul Turner? Turner's mostly sleepless during this whirlwind mystery, making it home to his lover Ben and the two sons mostly for breakfast before more complications and corpses pile up. Sure to please and to grow Zubro's fandom. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Mark Richard Zubro is the author of numerous mysteries, including the Lambda Literary Award-winning A Simple Suburban Murder and, most recently, Here Comes the Corpse. He is a teacher and lives in Mokena, Illinois.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (August 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312266820
• ISBN-13: 978-0312266820
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,824,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Premise Turned Into A Tedious Exercise, February 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dead Egotistical Morons: A Paul Turner Mystery (Hardcover)

Zurbo came highly recommended to me, but after reading Morons I can't imagine why. The characters are prefabricated and flat, with no appeal; the actual clues to the killer are nonexistent; and the book ends with a fizzle that somehow manages to be almost as tedious and unbelievable as it is out of nowhere... like maybe a quota of words had been met to fulfill a publisher's contract so an end was tacked on. The only thing I can imagine duller than reading this is the actual writing of it, since it doesn't even approach the couch potato equivalent of a creative exercise.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mildly entertaining at best....., February 8, 2004

By 

Amazonian Book Lover "sunstroke1962" (Tempe, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Egotistical Morons: A Paul Turner Mystery (Hardcover)

....amusingly mediocre at worst. There was nothing special about this book, nothing to really hold my attention. The author's physical descriptions of the boys in the band made it seem like several of the boys were skinny little nerds who would never in a million years be members of a wildly popular singing group. Also, his overuse of the word "screwed" really annoyed me. If all Mr. Zubro's books are like this, I won't be reading any more of him.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What was so great about this?, October 2, 2003

By 

Bruce F. Horner Jr. (Cleveland Heights, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Egotistical Morons: A Paul Turner Mystery (Hardcover)

I picked this book up because of the inside jacket cover made it sound so good. I started reading it on a plane and after the first couple of chapters wished my window at my window seat could open so I could chuck the book out.

Three quarters of the way through the book I was not just wondering who the killer was but if the author even knew. I was only hooked because I needed to end this book. The book had a wonderful premise and some really good characters, but it seemed even the author didn't know exactly why someone would murder the members of this band, so he picked some obscure reason. The ending was rushed and out of the blue. And the reason the murderer gives as to why he killed people was really lame. No one, no matter who whacked they were, would use this as an excuse or better yet no real good detective or policeman would except the reason as truth.

If you think he might like the book, you are probably right if someone else wrote it.