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Book Review By Debbie
A Simple Suburban Murder by Mark Richard Zubro

Tom Mason, remedial English teacher at Grover Cleveland High School in Chicago, walked into his classroom and found the dead body of a math teacher, Jim Evans, sitting at a desk in the back. Tom didn't know Jim well, but he had his son, Phil, in his class one year and found himself sucked in to the whole mess to try and clear Phil's name. Tom quickly discovered that Jim Evans had a lot of secrets worth killing for - and a lot of people who would be happy to see him dead. There were the female students who slept with him for passing grades, his son Phil whom he used to beat regularly, the people who owed him money on bets that he ran through a math lab program and a host of others. Tom realized early on that he was in over his head when every answer simply brought up more questions, but he was determined to find out who killed Evans and left him in his classroom - especially after Phil disappeared.

Dragging his closeted lover, Scott Carpenter, a famous baseball player, along for the ride, Tom started looking for Phil out on the streets, well aware that Phil was hustling to bring in money. He got a solid lead at The Womb, a popular bar, when Daphne, the bar's owner, agreed to let them see Phil so that they knew he was all right. However, Tom was unable to persuade Phil to return home and Phil wasn't able to give Tom a lot of information about his father's death. Tom kept pushing forward, interviewing whomever he could to try and pry more information out of them, but all the people that he interviewed had their own secrets to keep. With his supervisors at work pressuring him to stop his investigation or resign, the policemen assigned to the task force belittling his efforts at solving the case, and random attacks on his person and property, Tom knows he should listen to Scott's pleas to let the case go, but Tom has always been known for his stubbornness.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Misc. Murder Plotlets - local police w/ IQ of a houseplant - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect
Kind of investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
descript. of violence and chases - 30 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Midwest
City? Yes
City: - Chicago

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - homosexuals doing their thing
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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