During the last year, I’ve become a fan of Archer Mayor’s Joe Gunther novels. Set in Vermont, the novels are an intelligent and emotional blend of mystery and slow-boil thriller. When you open one of the Gunther books, you get pulled into a world that is sharply realized and filled with real characters with real histories.
Archer Mayor writes about material he’s familiar with. He’s a death inspector for the state of Vermont’s Chief Medical Examiner, is a deputy sheriff, and has been a fireman and EMT for 25 years. His crime scenes are worked right, and his technology is up-to-date and not somewhere in the ranks of science fiction.
Agent Joe Gunther works for the recently formed Vermont Bureau of Investigation. He’s got a military background and a history with the state police. I like Joe a lot because he’s the kind of guy I grew up around and still know. They’re easy-going but hard-driven, the kind of guys who can talk with you all day and never take their eyes off the prize.
The latest novel, Chat, brings the reader in close to Joe’s family. Although his age is now permanently frozen in his mid-fifties by the author, Joe’s been in law enforcement long enough to become something of a legend. He’s been married once to a woman who died young of cancer. His family consists of a brother and invalid mother who still share their lives. I loved the way that Mayor introduces his characters and reveals how they relate to each other. Leo and his mother’s relationship, and their relationships to Joe, are sparsely portrayed, but entirely believable.
I knew something was going to happen when I started turning pages in the book. Things always do. And when they start, you’d best sit up and start paying attention. Mayor works quickly, and he isn’t afraid to juggle several different plot elements and expect you to keep up. When Joe and his mom nearly get killed in the opening chapter, I was keenly aware that I was reading a book that was going to further define Joe Gunther.
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