The Price of Malice: A Joe Gunther Novel (Joe Gunther Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Archer Mayor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2009 | Series: Joe Gunther Mysteries

Wayne Castine was found brutally murdered and the murderer remains at large. Castine, a suspected child predator, was killed in Brattleboro where he was involved with a tangled network of an extended family living in a local trailer park. Any member of the clan would have had the opportunity to kill him, and, as he was involved with both the mother and her 12 year old daughter, reason to commit the murder. At the same time, Joe Gunther has learned that his girlfriend Lyn Silva’s fisherman father and brother, believed lost at sea off the coast of Maine, might have actually been murdered.

Without enough solid information to warrant law enforce ment involvement, Lyn returns to Maine to try and investigate Gunther’s findings. Gunther periodically puts his on-going murder investigation on hold—irritating his colleagues and angering his bosses —to go and help Lyn in Maine. It appears increasingly possible that her father and brother weren’t the good guys that Lyn always believed them to be and that they might have been involved with vicious smugglers who murdered them—and might do the same to Lyn if she keeps pushing.

Torn between his conscience and his heart, a murder invest - igation and a personal search for the truth, Gunther finds that betrayal and loyalty are often a matter of viewpoint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two mysteries preoccupy Joe Gunther in Mayor's engaging 20th novel to feature the Vermont Bureau of Investigation police detective (after 2008's The Catch). When the body of 32-year-old Wayne Castine, stabbed a bunch of times, and maybe shot and beaten, turns up in an amateur prostitute's apartment in Brattleboro, Vt., Gunther and his team investigate. Evidence suggests Castine, who had a relationship with a colorful trailer park family, was a pedophile or even a psychopath. Meanwhile, new information surfaces about Gunther's girlfriend Lyn Silva's father and brother, who vanished in a boat off the New England coast. Silva's investigation into her family members' disappearance distracts Gunther from the homicide inquiry. While some readers may find the shifts between the two cases jarring, Mayor manages to keep the suspense building and the reader guessing until the end. Series fans will appreciate the local cultural insights and the authentic cop lingo. (Oct.)
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Review

“The Joe Gunther series is one of the best around…With its excellent noir touches, terrific plots, and really interesting central character, it ought to appear at the top of most lists.”—Globe and Mail (Toronto) 

“Archer Mayor’s Vermont police procedurals are the best thing going.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Mayor still shows why he is one of the most respected American writers or procedurals.”—Library Journal

“As always, Mayor delivers rich characters, solid police procedural details, and a rich sense of place. A solid addition to a fine series.”—Booklist

The Catch

“The Catch [is] as authentic as it gets.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Superior…will leave fans feeling fully satisfied.”—Publishers Weekly

“Mayor’s skills are equal to the vigor of his imagination, and we take his word for every twist, every turn, every thunderbolt.”—New Yorker

“Elegant, even lyrical prose...a new Joe Gunther is always good news.”—Booklist 

“Suspenseful...Mayor’s New England eye mercilessly details what he sees without the ‘calendar nostalgia’ that usually clings to such villages and backwaters...The clever plot expands like a dark whirlpool and reveals the underbelly of Vermont and Maine.”—Providence Journal-Bulletin

“As with all Mayor’s novels, the plot remains fresh and timely. Through his in-depth knowledge of police work, forensics and the medical field, combined with his ability to evoke the Vermont landscape, Mayor deftly brings the reader deep inside the story, taking us along the trail of meticulous detective work needed to bring out the truth.”—Brattleboro Reformer

…and for Archer Mayor and his other Joe Gunther novels

“Mayor is a devil of a plotter.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

“Superb…Mayor spins out parallel story lines and weaves the strands together with deft precision.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Second Mouse

“An intricate, first-rate thriller…a riveting plot and exceptional writing.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Sniper’s Wife

“The writing is strong, with sharp social observations throughout…Gunther grows on you from novel to novel.”—Washington Post Book World

“Mayor keeps getting better with age…Few writers deliver such well-rounded novels of such consistently high quality.”—Arizona Daily Star

“From first to last, [Mayor’s] novels are page-turners, and each page resonates with the author’s authority…His storytelling talents and his sheer craftsmanship combine to make his Joe Gunther books hard to put  down.”—Tampa Tribune

“Archer Mayor is one of today’s most reliable—and most underappreciated—crime writers. His low-key police procedurals, which utilize their off-the-beaten-track setting to great advantage, are always entertaining, and his protagonist and iconoclastic supporting cast are unfailingly good company.”—San Diego Union-Tribune

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312381921
• ISBN-13: 978-0312381929
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Archer Mayor is the author of the highly acclaimed, Vermont-based series featuring detective Joe Gunther, which the Chicago Tribune describes as "the best police procedurals being written in America." He is also the 2004 winner of the New England Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction--the first time a writer of crime literature has been so honored.

Before turning his hand to fiction, Mayor wrote history books, the most notable of which concerned the lumber and oil business in Louisiana from the 1870s to the 1970s. This book was published by the University of Georgia Press back in 1988 and very well received; it has been republished as a trade paperback in 2009.

Mayor--who was brought up in the US, Canada and France--was variously employed as a scholarly editor, a researcher for TIME-LIFE Books, a political advance-man, a theater photographer, a newspaper writer/editor, a lab technician for Paris-Match Magazine in Paris, France, and a medical illustrator. In addition to writing novels and occasional articles, Mayor gives talks and workshops all around the country, including the Bread Loaf Young Writers conference in Middlebury, Vermont, and the Colby College seminar on forensic sciences in Waterville, Maine. In addition, Archer is a death investigator for Vermont's Chief Medical Examiner, a Deputy Sheriff for Windham County, VT, an investigator for the Windham County State's Attorney's office, the publisher of his own backlist, a travel writer for AAA, and he travels the Northeast giving speeches and conducting workshops. He also has 25 years experience as a volunteer firefighter/EMT.

Mayor's critically-acclaimed series of police novels features Lt. Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, Vermont police department. The books, which have been appearing about once a year since 1988, have been published in five languages (if you count British,) and routinely gather high praise from such sources as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New Yorker, and many others, often appearing on their "ten best" yearly lists.

Whereas many writers base their books on only interviews and scholarly research, Mayor's novels are based on actual experience in the field. The result adds a depth, detail and veracity to his characters and their tribulations that has led the New York Times to call him "the boss man on procedures".

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "We figured most of it out from a single drop of blood.", September 29, 2009

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Price of Malice: A Joe Gunther Novel (Joe Gunther Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Mayer's thriller is set in Vermont, where a man is found brutally stabbed and beaten, virtually unrecognizable, save an ID in his wallet. The crime scene is soaked in blood, turning the indelicate stomachs of even the most seasoned investigators, Joe Gunther of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation and his crack team of detectives. And from the first chapter, Mayor takes charge of his characters and the rhythm of his story, with believable dialog and a grotesque crime scene. The author perfectly captures the cop shop camaraderie, consistent throughout the book, an eclectic group of men and women who live with violence in every from yet manage personal lives and relationships that sustain them.

There is no ambiguity about which side Mayor is on, the sometimes slow, but affective wheels of Vermont's Bureau of Investigation turning, producing results, but not without unexpected twists and dangerous situations that threaten the public and officers alike. It's a good thing Gunther can rely on his team because an unexpected situation sends him from Vermont to Maine in pursuit of his current hopeful relationship with Lyn Silva. Lyn's father and brother have been killed in a fishing-related accident- or so she thinks- until new information surfaces that causes Lyn to question everything she has believed about her father. Lyn wants answers, putting herself in considerable danger in her need to find the truth. Hence, Joe's impulsive rush to Maine and a few terrible hours when he learns that Lyn has disappeared.

Mayor juggles both cases, Gunther hovering over the Vermont investigation while pursuing Lyn in Maine, where he happily accepts the aid of Maine's bureau officers. The characters, good and bad, are strong and realistic, from Joe's team to the petty criminals who barter in information and the sociopaths who slip the boundaries of sanity and take revenge the old fashioned way. This is Mayor's genre, a satisfying walk on the wild side filled with colorful characters and close escapes, the detritus of existence below the radar and the occasional bursts of violence that call for the best in law enforcement for resolution. Luan Gaines/2009.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent plot and supporting characters, November 9, 2009

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Price of Malice: A Joe Gunther Novel (Joe Gunther Mysteries) (Hardcover)

First Sentence: Willy Kunkle gently removed his one functional hand from the bare back of the woman stretched out beside him and reached for the softly buzzing cell phone on the night table.

Wayne Castine, a suspected pedophile, has been found brutally stabbed, in the apartment of a neighbor who didn't know him. While Willy, Sammie and the VBI team work to solve the murder, Joe is off on a personal investigation. He is helping his girlfriend, Lyn, discover who murdered her father and brother.

I love New England so books set there do have a special meaning for me. Mayor always creates a very strong sense of place but occasionally gets a bit carried away with the driving directions. But that's a minor thing.

What brings me back, book after book, are his characters. Joe Gunther, the protagonist, can be so solid as to almost be boring; Lyn, his girlfriend--well, I started to like her until she did something so TSTL even though she realizes it too late. It's Willy, Sammie, Les and Ron who add color and dimension and balance to the stories.

The plotting was very well done. Mayor describes the investigative procedure and process well, while balancing it with humanity and emotion. The two plot lines were well balanced and never confusing. There was good suspense in both lines. I also appreciated the realistic frustration the team felt with Joe's absence.

Mayor continues to be a "must buy" author for me.

THE PRICE OF MALICE (Pol Proc-Joe Gunther-New Hampshire/Maine-Cont) - VG

Mayor, Archer - 20th in series

Minatour Books, 2009, US Hardcover - ISBN: 9780312381929

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stay in Vermont Joe, October 22, 2009

By 

Tjohn (Ludlow, VT) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Price of Malice: A Joe Gunther Novel (Joe Gunther Mysteries) (Hardcover)

It's time for Joe Gunther to stay in Vermont for awhile. Although this book as well as the entire Joe Gunther series is much better than your average in this genre, having Joe leaving the state for Maine is starting to stretch the plots and the characters a little too far. I'm sure Maine is a beautiful state but without giving too much away Joe's business there is now finished. Come home Joe and stay in Vermont for at least an entire book. Your readers and your fellow fictional law enforcement colleagues will be happier if you do.