Sex and Murder.com: A Paul Turner Mystery (Paul Turner Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Mark Richard Zubro (Author)

Book Description

Series: Paul Turner Mysteries | Publication Date: August 17, 2001

Craig Lenzati, the rich and powerful CEO of Chicago's answer to Microsoft, is found brutally murdered with stab wounds all over his body. The murder is reported anonymously, and a quick and quiet resolution to the case is demanded by City Hall. Meanwhile, the list of suspects is almost endless and that along has the powers-that-be breathing down the necks of Chicago Police Detectives Paul Turner and Buck Fenwick. But as the two struggle to untangle the case and find the killer, they soon learn that the killer has only just begun.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lambda award winner Zubro has received just praise for his gay mysteries (One Dead Drag Queen, etc.), but his latest isn't going to further his reputation. Within 24 hours Chicago software tycoons and business partners Craig Lenzati and Brooks Werberg are murdered, each stabbed repeatedly. Both men were rich nerds; one was gay. Detectives Paul Turner (the gay father of two boys) and Buck Fenwick (a macho type who secretly writes poetry) take on the two cases. As they painstakingly strip away layers of computer code, the detectives discover that the murder victims were playing a childish sex game. Lenzati and Werberg each offered sex partners money and kept score, their way of gaining nerd revenge for years of social and sexual ineptness. As Turner and Fenwick crack wise and interview copious hired lovers, mysterious gifts of chocolate begin to arrive on Turner's desk, as do threatening messages on his computer screen. A cross-country killing spree targets policemen with good arrest records. The cop murders and the two dead software magnates might just be connected. Or they might not. The verbal interplay between Turner and Fenwick becomes tiresome and contrived. Since weak jokes and labored banter take up most of the book, the identity of potential killers requires the reader skipping backwards to find their initial appearances. It works, but only just.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The Windy City's answer to Microsoft has at its helm two computer supergeniuses. When one is found brutally murdered, only to be followed by the other, gay Chicago police detective Turner and his partner, Buck Fenwick, must shoulder the burden of reducing a list of suspects only slightly smaller than the entire roster of known felons in the Chicago area. Complicating matters is a journalist's surmise that a serial killer of cops is on the loose, working his way westward from the East Coast, with Chicago his probable next major stop off of I-90. Combining murder and microchips, rapid-fire patter zings across the pages in this latest Turner mystery, which showcases Zubro at the top of his form. Sure to please present fans and win new ones. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (August 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312266839
• ISBN-13: 978-0312266837
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,469,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark but exciting police procedural, August 1, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sex and Murder.com: A Paul Turner Mystery (Paul Turner Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Craig Lenzati and Brooks Werberg were two nerdy individuals who worked in their garage trying to develop a dot.com company. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams and sold their company for billions of dollars. They opened up another company that worked on cutting edge technology, especially artificial intelligence.

Chicago detectives Paul Turner and his partner Buck Fenwick are called out to Craigs home. Someone murdered Craig using a large sharp knife with blood splattered everywhere. The killer struck him many times with the weapon before Craig died. The detectives also think the perpetrator urinated on the victim before he left. A few days later, the exact same thing happened to Brooks. The police believe they are dealing with an angry serial killer. As they dig into the victims lives, the genteel veneer crumbles to reveal two oversexed powerful males playing games that made a lot of people angry. Paul and Buck have more suspects than a duck has feathers.

SEX AND MURDER.COM is an exciting very dark police procedural that shows the reader the mindset of a police officer during a heinous investigation. The plot is fast moving and action packed, but turns quite graphic concerning the crime scenes. It is fascinating to read about a police investigation that demonstrates the usually slow pace of the puzzle pieces coming together. Mark Richard Zubro will surely receive a Lambda nomination if not the award for this engaging work.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, Bad Mystery., October 29, 2002

By 

Byron R. Daugherty "Byron" (Miami Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sex and Murder.com: A Paul Turner Mystery (Paul Turner Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The book was a compelling read for chapter to chapter, but at the end you feel cheated. While it makes an interesting Fiction, it did not have the makings of a good Mystery. The solution was rushed in the last two chapters of the book.

Nowhere were clues during the read that could lead even a careful, experienced Mystery reader to try and even speculate on who did it. For me, half the fun is trying to deduce the murderer(s) before the author reveals it.

There are clues dropped as to why it happened, but you'll just flat be told who it is at the end. You just sort of plod along, hoping to find something to bite on and BAM the author spills his guts in the last chapters. The author did a great job running a second plot along; although it suffered the same clueless, fast wrap up.

The characters that did do it were really underdeveloped. If they were better developed, and some clues dropped along the way, this would be an amazing Mystery book.

It is, however, a damn good book for specifically [weak] content. A good book, not a good Mystery.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BEST IN THE PAUL TURNER SERIES, August 21, 2001

By 

Robert Edler "Master Of Mystery" (Saint Louis, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Sex and Murder.com: A Paul Turner Mystery (Paul Turner Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Far be it from me to disagree with Publisher's Weekly, but I thought MrZ did an outstanding job with his latest entry in the Paul Turner mystery series. I couldn't put it down and I finished it two days! That's what I call an action page-turner.

Paul and his partner, Buck Fenwick, are faced with figuring out the murder of Chicago's version of the wealthy and powerful computer genius. As they investigate the victim's death and life, the murders continue and the crime becomes more perverse and sexually sordid.

Then to complicate matters, a serial killer appears to be working his way west eliminating top police detectives. Chicago is his next stop and Turner and Fenwick are prime candidates for becoming his next victim. Oh, and by the way, his M.O. just happens to be the same as that used in the computer murders. Are the two crimes connected? Will Paul and Buck find the killer/killers before he/she/they find them? If you're like me it won't take a lot of time to discover the answer. I stayed up until 2:30 doing that, and I had the serial killer narrowed done to two characters.

Fortunately and/or unfortunately, the domestic details of Paul's life are at a bare minimum this time. The kids are becoming just too perfect -- all nice and goody-goody. I think the next book will be time for Jeff to show his bad boy side. Sure I know he's the one in the wheelchair, but that would be the unexpected twist!

And for all you Buck Fenwick fans, his gallows humor and macabre wisecracks are at their groaning and enjoyable worst!