Nerds Who Kill: A Paul Turner Mystery

This was the first Zubro story that I've read and I thoroughly enjoyed this book - all in one day! My main criteria for a book: does it take me away from my dull and boring everyday life as a legal secretary? This story did that for me. Another reason for my enjoyment of this story was that I have attended DragonCon in Atlanta, and a couple of smaller writer conventions. The convention events in this story, along with the convention attendees (in costume or not), replicated the things that I have seen at 'real' conventions. There were a couple of minor characters brought into the interrogations that I found a tad tedious - but the repartee between Paul Turner and his fellow detective/partner Buck Fenwick entertained me during those particular interrogations. I look forward to reading more of Mister Zubro's mystery stories.

I bought the book to be entertained and that is what I was. If you are looking for great literature then I would advise sticking with something else. The same can be said for anyone looking for a police procedural. Afterall when Paul Turners son's sword turns out to be the murder weapon his boss should have pulled him from the investigation because of conflict of interest. This is just an entertaining read. I basically read it in two settings and got some chuckles out of it. The one word of criticism I have is that I had to pay a hardback price for it. Paperback would have been a better format as well as price for this.

Chicago Police Department Detective widower Paul Turner raises his two sons Brian and Jeff with the help of his gay lover Ben. Lately Jeff, who is wheelchair bound, has become quite independent, which is driving poor Paul to distraction, but he admits only to himself that life has been good of late though he frets over Jeff constantly. Paul takes his two teenage sons wearing costumes to the World's Ultimate Science Fiction Convention at the Greater Chicago Hotel and Convention Center. The cop figures he will survive even if Brian is a butt and Jeff is a pain until his official job intercedes. Someone murders renowned popular fantasy author Muriam Devers using a broadsword, a not so common weapon except at a sci fi convention where almost every teen including Paul's son has one. Soon other attendees are murdered with an assortment of convention weaponry. Paul and his partner Buck Fenwick seek a serial killer attendee who knows his or her armaments, a wolf amongst geeky sheep. This is a terrific police procedural that is humanized by Mark Richard Zubro's making a strong argument on what constitutes a loving family. The cleverly crafted who-done-it hooks the audience as the two detectives make inquires at the gala. However, it is the personal side of Paul that grips the tale as he is openly gay yet is a nurturing father and a solid cop who shows how inane "Don't tell" is and how ridiculous using sexual preference as a values barometer truly is. NERDS WHO KILL is a fabulous murder mystery in a fine series that reminds the audience that individual behavior and respect are what counts not sexual preference. Harriet Klausner

In this eighth book in the "Paul Turner" series, we join that Chicago police detective widower at home as his family (consisting of 16 year old son Brian, his 11 year old brother Jeff, who used a wheelchair due to spina bifida, and Paul's lover Ben, who owned a garage) prepared to attend a science fiction writers and media convention. Costumes were the rule at such affairs, with Jeff having worked on his own alien costume for weeks, while Brian went as the Beastmaster, complete with leather loincloth and jewel studded broadsword. The next time that Turner saw a similar broadsword, it was sticking out of a popular but controversial science fiction writer who had been murdered in her room. Nearby was a red ostrich feather, that writer's trademark-like reference in her books, broken in half. That scenario would replay itself several times during the next 24 hrs, as Turner and his police partner, Buck Fenwick, found additional victims, most attendees at the convention, but including one police officer on the scene. Amid over a thousand eccentric convention attendees, most in costumes, Turner and Fenwick learn of the behind-the-scenes cliques and posturing that caused friction between many of them, and try to gauge if the arguments could have led to murder. An additional concern for Turner is the fact that Jeff's broadsword comes up missing, and might have been used in one of the murders, but this is soon overshadowed by a suspicion that his own children may be targeted by the elusive killer. Another first-rate mystery from Zubro, one that should be especially interesting to anyone who ever attended a sci fi or Star Trek convention, since he seems to capture the different types of personalities one would find at such a gathering. Plot and characters were excellent, and kept me guessing till the end.