Drop Dead

Paul Turner #5

by Mark Richard Zubro

When male supermodel Cullom Furyk plummets to his death from the top of a major downtown hotel, gay Chicago Police Detective Paul Turner and his partner, Detective Buck Fenwick, are called to find out what actually happened. One witness claims that Furyk was pushed to his death, and someone involved in Furyk's tumultuous personal or professional life may have played a role in the mysterious incident. Will Turner and Fenwick be able to determine the killer before someone gets away with murder?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Romance, Gay Fiction, LGBT, Crime

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Author also writes as: Mark Zubro.

Mark Richard Zubro is an American mystery novelist. He lives in Mokena, Illinois and taught 8th grade English at Summit Hill Jr. High in nearby Frankfort Square, Illinois.

Zubro writes bestselling mysteries set in Chicago and the surrounding Cook County area, which are widely praised as fast-paced, with interesting plots and well-rounded, likeable characters. His novels feature gay themes, and Zubro is himself gay.

His longest running series features high school teacher Tom Mason, and Tom's boyfriend, professional baseball player Scott Carpenter. The other series Zubro is known for is the Paul Turner mysteries, which are about a Chicago police detective. The books are a part of the Stonewall Inn Mystery series, published by St. Martin's Press. Zubro won a Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men's Mystery for his book A Simple Suburban Murder.

Series:
* Tom Mason and Scott Carpenter
* Paul Turner

I am the author of twenty-four mystery novels and five short stories. My book A Simple Suburban Murder won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men's mystery. I also wrote a thriller, Foolproof, with two other mystery writers, Jeanne Dams and Barb D'Amato. I taught eighth graders English and reading for thirty-four years and was president of the teachers' union in my district from 1985 until 2006. I retired from teaching in 2006 and now spend my time reading, writing, napping, and eating chocolate. My newest book, Another Dead Republican, is my thirteenth book in the Tom and Scott series which features as main characters, a gay school teacher and his lover, a professional baseball player. One of the keys in my mysteries is you do not want to be a person who is racist, sexist, homophobic, or a school administrator. If you are any of those, it is likely you are the corpse, or, at the least, it can be fairly well guaranteed that bad things will happen to you by the end. And if in my books you happen to be a Republican and/or against workers' rights, it would be far better if you did not make a habit of broadcasting this. If you did, you're quite likely to be a suspect, or worse.

Reviews

[Lily Heron · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a model plummets to his death, Paul must discover the murderer. Everyone turned into an absolute bantersaurus in this instalment, and I wasn't a fan because it felt so sudden and different to the books before. I guess it felt fairly out of character for many of them, and majorly out of character for Paul. But then I wonder whether with a series like this, and this genre, is it more typical for authors to switch up their characterisation a few books in? I don't know, but it didn't work for me, basically. It got better in the second half when Ben gets involved. I wish there had been more time with Paul's family. Kiiiind of losing interest at this point. Might go back to Tom and Scott for some unhinged amateur sleuthing lol

[Arthur · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first Zubro I've read, though I've had a few on my shelf for years. I'm 2/3 of the way through it and have lost interest. It's an interesting plot, and lots of great insider knowledge of the fashion industry is entertaining. There's lots of banter between the two cop/protagonists, but it's not good enough or clever enough to compensate for the flat writing. Don't know if he writes better in other books but after this one I'm not inclined to try them out. Sadly, most of the gay mysteries I've read are also victims of less than great writing. Not all, but most, and that's disappointing.

[Daniel Hand · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite mystery series.

[Jay Langer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review of Drop Dead is spoiler free.

Rating: 3/5

This was a good entry to the Paul Turner series. I think Zubro's finally got a full handle on Paul and Buck's friendship and chemistry, because their banter actually got some laughs out of me. That said, I am starting to think they're not very good detectives.

Also, this exchange...

Turner said, "Whatever happens, never again quote poetry in front of possible witnesses or suspects."
"You don't like poetry?"
"I'm not opposed to it, but think about it, Buck. A poetry-quoting cop? Besides the fact that it is totally out of character for you, nobody would believe it about any cop anywhere."
"There's got to be a poetry-reciting, even poetry-writing cops. Somewhere."

...got a chuckle out of me. If you're a fan of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, then you'll know why.

[Neet · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this 5th Paul Turner mystery we find Detectives Turner & Fenwick investigating who pushed a high fashion male model off the ledge of a penthouse balcony to his death. The model, was a enigma, he seem to float from lover to lover, though highly paid he had no home. The suspects are many, including the fashion company owner where the model had an exclusive contract, the rival company who wanted the young man to model for them, and various lovers who wanted the young man's as moe then a quickie. This is a fast and fun read. I lover the easy going partnership of Turner & Fenwick they get each others humor and back each other up.Just a good series!

[Vernon · Rating 3 out of 5]

i tghought it was at the good book

[Neet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the ebook review!