Archer Mayor and Joe Gunther: Books 19-21

First edition

Two things have struck me as I've worked with this set of "recaps" of the 21 Joe Gunther mysteries that precede TAG MAN -- which Archer Mayor will introduce in person here at Kingdom Books tomorrow, October 15, at 2 p.m.: (1) These books can all stay on my "re-read these" shelf -- the passage of time only makes them better, as they unfold with skilled narrative and intelligent plots, as well as friendships that last -- and change -- for years. (2) Seeing them in groups of three or four reveals the swings of change in how Mayor has presented Joe and the engaging characters that share his investigations: journalist Stan Katz, medical examiner Beverly Hillstrom, detectives Sammie Martens and Willy Kunkle, and more.

Large-print edition

The preceding four books presented separate investigations, separate adventures. What linked them, though, and raised the ante over time, was the changes in Joe Gunther's life as both investigator and intimate partner of the very intelligent, very determined Gail Zigman, whom Joe met in his hometown of Brattleboro, Vermont. By the end of Chat, readers knew that Gail was unlikely to defeat the violent spectres that Joe's career kept bringing to her, with their induced flashbacks of a crime that victimized her years before. You could taste Joe's loneliness, inevitable and powerful as a freight train pulling through a crossing.

In THE CATCH (St Martins/Minotaur, 2008), while Joe's personal life may have shriveled, his professional life is in high gear. Head of the prestigious (and fictional) Vermont Bureau of Investigation, or VBI, Gunther tackles the investigation of a cop killing, way on the other side of the state. Uncovering the details sends the investigation explosively into more New England states, especially along the coast. From Boston, to Portsmouth, NH, to Maine, Joe Gunther and his team discover the long reach of crime, organized and powerful. And unexpectedly, he partners with a new lover, someone both tough and sweet, someone who's not afraid to say "I love you" to Joe, even as she's wrestling with her own complicated family life and starting a business in Brattleboro herself.

First edition

Large-print edition

But what Joe discovers in the course of his investigations has a dark impact on Lyn Silva, and THE PRICE OF MALICE (Minotaur, 2009) tests his self-image and his dreams for a comfortable future. For Lyn too, there's no guarantee that it's going to be worth tackling all the darkness that Joe is bringing into her life. Suddenly she leaves town, determined to solve the mysteries and perhaps serious crimes of her family's past. Encouraged by his team of detectives, who cover for him, Joe goes "AWOL" himself, tackling the risks that Lyn has both engaged with and fueled. The risk level for both of them is extreme, and the violence plays out not in Vermont, where Joe has ready backup, but along the ragged shoreline of the state of Maine.

RED HERRING (Minotaur, 2010) may be the most shocking of the Joe Gunther books, as the ultimate sacrifice of crimefighting -- the potential loss of life in a police officer's family -- becomes a reality for this overextended, overworking investigator. In fact, the plot twists are so intense that I won't hint at them, only adding here that when Joe's team finds several "unrelated" murders on their hands, Joe ends up out of state, finding advanced technical help beyond anything shown on CSI -- yet this is an Archer Mayor book, so the solution isn't fantasy, but hard science, exotic and intense though it sometimes appears. If you haven't read any of the Joe Gunther series, and you're about to pick up a copy of TAG MAN, please try really, really hard to grab and read RED HERRING first. It's the back story to the costs that book 22 will highlight.

Large-print edition

And that's it for now. Dave and I hope to see you tomorrow at the shop, or online afterward, or maybe to talk with you by phone (Dave epitomizes the term "book consultant," ready at the ring of a phone to plunge into which good mysteries might be next for your list). Most of all, try to be here to meet Archer Mayor. I've mentioned before that he's shown up here in a bulletproof vest once ("no time to change before driving here") and another time announced, "I can only stay an hour, there's a dead body waiting for me" (he's a state death examiner). I'm very, very curious about what we'll learn tomorrow -- about Archer Mayor, Joe Gunther, and an award-winning series that's maturing and thriving with its readers. Congrats, Archer and readers, for putting TAG MAN onto next week's New York Times bestseller list (yes, already announced!). Here's to book 22 ... a heck of good one, with 21 others behind it.

PS -- The three large-print covers shown here are from the Thorndike Mystery Series. Nice!