Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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!

Zubro's mysteries are never disappointing, and this one certainly is one of his best. I couldn't rip through the pages fast enough. Although I felt some of the weak jokes and forced banter that went on between Detectives Buck Fenwick and Paul Turner went on too long and became tiring after a while. However, that's my only complaint. The story is very interesting, exciting and fast paced.

Detectives Paul Turner and Buck Fenwick are assigned the murder case of Craig Lenzati and Brooks Werberg, two software geniuses and business partners who both have been stabbed to death within the last 24 hours. Craig happens to be straight and Brooks is a gay man. As the detectives soon find out both of these victims have been playing sex games with many people and keeping score of their many conquests. The people they have been sexually abusing and blackmailing are very angry and anyone of them could be the potential murderer. At the same time that the detectives are trying to solve the computer nerds murders someone is also killing cops while traveling across the country. Chicago is next on the list. Could the two cases be related? Could it be the same killer. In both the cop killings and the software executives murders the victims have been urinated on, and stabbed to death many times with a large jagged knife. Perhaps even Turner & Fenwick will be the next victims?

There's a lot of mystery here, and the story moves along at quite a fast pace. It's a book you can't put down. I have read all of Mark Zubro's books and I truly enjoyed this one. It's a nice way to spend an enjoyable evening and an excellent diversion. Highly recommended.

Basically, the story telling itself is good. The story line, however, is dull and pedestrian. There is really no action, not much suspense, some laughable intrigue and banal banter between the characters. I thought the story got completely goofy about halfway through. As long as you're not expecting too much this is makes for an "OK" read, but it isn't challenging by any means.

Keep in mind that this is one of Mr. Zubro's earlier works and fortunately, his plot development has grown immensely since this snooze-fest was written, so from the "watching an author develop professionally over time point-of-view" it can be interesting. Read Mr. Zubro's later books; they're infinitely better.

[....] If you've read other books in this series, you'll like this one. If this is your first outing with Detective Paul Turner and his police partner Buck; you should head back to the first in the series. This book stands up fairly well on its own, but it's much better if you've followed the characters. Their development is a bit more apparent if you see where they've come from. The scenes of Turner's home life with his lover Ben and two sons seems a bit out of focus; as though Mr. Zubro has no reference point for a gay man's life at home. Why only 3 stars? Because too much was wrapped up in the final few pages without a great deal of set-up or follow-through. None of the clues along the way would lead you to any of the solution. It seemed rushed and forced.
MHS

Wonderful picture of the . com entrepeneur. Victims who have made themselves the perfect 'victimn' for a murder. Lots of blood and tricky detection but... what I really like about the Paul Turner mysteries is the scenes of his homelife. There is always something new but not in this book. somehow noone seems to have changed at all. I was mildly disappointed about that.

This was a good read and an interesting plot, but I wish Zubro would bring back Tom and Scott and their loving relationship. And Fenwick's banter gets awfully tiresome after a while. Not enough about Paul's home life and relationship with Ben. When I read a gay mystery I want more gayness in it. Oh well, will keep buying them.

Great Mystery....Mark Zubro has done it again! Paul Ben his 2 children Mrs. Talucci even his partner all came to life again in another ongoing Turner mystery...thank-you Mr. Zubro for continuing this series