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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good story with outstanding character development!, October 12, 2006
Archer Mayor's Second Mouse starts not with a bang, but a whimper. But in this case, that's a good thing.
When a local woman is found dead in her home, a converted Vermont schoolhouse, the local authorities aren't even sure a crime has been committed. Called in because he's recently split with his longtime girlfriend--and one of the local cops wants to play matchmaker with the victim's best friend--Joe Gunther doesn't hit it off the with the friend, but the case intrigues him. Though there are no signs of foul play, Gunther can't help but feel that there's something not right about this death, no matter how natural the causes might seem.
Alongside the story of the mysterious death, Mayor also takes the reader into the sometimes bleak, often disturbing world of a trio of misfits whose story is gradually revealed to have more impact on what took place in that converted schoolhouse than first meets the eye. With endearing and refreshingly unusual secondary characters and a satisfying level of complexity, this finely crafted character study is a thoughtful and meticulously plotted look into the sometimes conflicting roles that friendship can play in the lives of both those who enforce the law, and those who break it.
There is a quiet melancholy to Mayor's prose that is at once hopeful and tragic. One feels the futility of these interwoven lives he portrays, but underlying the bleakness, there is comfort in knowing that good can survive even when faced with evil.
In the tradition of the best British police procedurals by John Harvey and Peter Robinson, Mayor's characters are not always right, and certainly not always likeable, but they are never dull. Joe Gunther is the rare police procedural hero who doesn't dominate the story, though with a quiet efficiency it is Gunther who keeps the story on track and who ultimately is the one who links all the divergent threads of the story together leading the reader toward the inevitable crescendo of a conclusion.
Armchair Interview says: Good story with outstanding character development.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Tale of Investigation, October 25, 2006
Vermont Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joe Gunther arrives at home of Michelle Fisher, who's just been found dead by the local police. Although nothing seems out of the ordinary, Joe isn't satisfied with the cursory investigation doled out to the woman. Especially not since her father-in-law had sent threatening letters through his lawyer to evict Michelle from the home. The crime business is slow at the moment, and Joe is a guy who will always kick the tires of something before he buys it. Right now he's not buying Michelle's murder.
At the same time, Mel Martin is a bad guy looking to go big. Together with his wife, Nancy, and accomplice Ellis Robbinson, Mel breaks into a National Guard armory and starts gathering the tools and the information to bring down his biggest score ever.
Archer Mayor has written 16 previous Joe Gunther books, gathering more praise from reviewers and critics for his tenacious investigator and the rural area that he paints so well in spare, compact prose. He also works as a death investigator for the state's medical examiner and volunteers as a fireman/EMT, experiences that doubtlessly give him plenty to write about in his mysteries.
Accompanying Joe throughout the investigation, I felt like I was standing in his shoes several times. Mayor brings the Vermont world to vivid life. Growing up in small towns myself, I instantly knew the mentality of the towns and the people Joe had to deal with. Mayor's prose propels the reader through the book. In addition to the seemingly innocuous death, Joe is dealing with the recent break-up of a 20-year relationship. He also has to take time out to help settle an old score for his friend, Beverly Hillstrom, the medical examiner he regularly does business with.
The novel proceeds at a brisk pace, intertwining the stories of Joe's investigation and various quests with those of Mel Martin, whose wife and accomplice have suddenly started having an affair. The situation is totally volatile, and the plot gets more and more twisted in a deceptively simple way.
Mayor writes mysteries the way they ought to be written: a mix of clues, suspects, investigatory techniques, and luck. Joe Gunther has already had a long run, but chances are he's going to be around for a long time to come.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 stars - Very good addition to the series, December 6, 2006
Vermont Bureau of Investigation Field Force Commander Joe Gunther hears the call of a body found and stops to see whether he can help the responding State Police. At first, he seems a natural death, but something just doesn't quite fit and makes Joe uncomfortable enough, he decides to investigate. At the same time, there is a pair of bad guys on a crime spree but there's a problem. One of the men is in love with his partner's wife.
I always enjoy Mayor's books. He has a very visual, evocative style completely involving the reader. Joe is the consummate professional cop always questioning and ever loyal to his friends. Mayor expertly takes two story lines, builds them, intertwines them and bringing them to a satisfying conclusion. While Mayor refers to people and relationships in the past, although there is one I'm hoping will finally disappear, the reader never feels left out. I'm happy to say "Second Mouse" is another very good entry into this series.
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