Customer Reviews

The Second Mouse (Joe Gunther Mystery)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have read and have all 17 books in this series and have yet to be disappointed . Joe Gunther has become an old friend and it will be a long year till the next book comes out.
This book has some interesting twists and turns to all the charactors final collision that, without some fate would have never happened. Great story plot and always great charactors. Only problem with this book is the same I have with all of Joe Gunthers adventures... once I start reading them I can't put them down !!!!
THANK YOU AGAIN ARCHER MAYOR !!!

Archer Mayor's Joe Gunther mysteries are always well written, and full of interesting (and realistic, as far as I can tell from occasional ventures to Vermont) local color. I'm giving this a full 5 *'s because two traits that had bothered me somewhat throughout the series are abated: First, Joe is in at least temporary remission from his self-obsessed, on-again-off-again long time significant other Gail. (Why can't New England mystery guy's find girlfriends that don't make your teeth crawl -- think Spencer's Sarah Silverman, and Roxanne in Gerry Boyle's Jack McMorrow series.) Second, unlike so many of Mayor's books, the action and mysteries don't revolve around bad guys from out of state or country.

The book has two threads of crime. First, Joe (who works for Vermont's fictional major crimes outfit, the Vermont Bureau of Investigation), drops in on what seems at first to be the "natural" death of Michelle Fisher, a corpse seemingly at peace and leaving no clues other than a missing cat. There is an obvious suspect, her dead husband's father who wants her out of the house he owns, but no obvious cause of death. Second, we follow the career of three smalltime South Vermont lowlifes, the hapless Ellis and Nancy and Nancy's brutal and dominating husband Mel, as Mel's penchant for violence escalates. Joe also goes to bat for longtime colleague, chief medical examiner Beverly Hillstrom, who is threatened with blackmail and political revenge, and they even advance to first name basis (astonishing as that may seem to long term readers of the series).

Mayor expertly tugs at our heartstrings as we follow multiple threads of love/relationship, as well as our whodunnit logic as we try to anticipate what's going to happen with Mel's posse and to figure out what happened to Michelle. The resolutions of both threads, as well as Joe's resolution of Beverly's problems, are satisfying and surprising. Altogether the best read in the series for some time.

Mr. Mayor continues to write good stories that hold my interest. I was particularly dissatisfied by Det. Joe Gunther becoming involved in a one night stand with a professional associate he had great respect for.In my opinion, This part of the story was out of character .
I continue to enjoy the New England points of interest the author mentions during Joe's travels in solving the crime.
This book as with previous writings is written well in regard to professional investigative details which I like very much.

Vermont Bureau of Investigation Field Force Commander Joe Gunther heard the dispatch as he was driving by so he stopped to see if he could help Vermont State Police Detective Doug Matthews. Though their law enforcement units are rivals, the two senior cops have a respect for one another and welcome the assistance. The victim is Michelle Fisher, whose longtime boyfriend Archie Morgan died seven months ago and had been in a dispute ever since with Archie's father Newell over ownership of the former schoolhouse she called home.

While on the surface it looks like a natural cause death as there is no sign of a struggle, Joe finds some anomalies that disturb him especially the missing cat and Archie obtaining an eviction notice. He decides to visit Newell in upper crust Bennington, but waited to hear from Doug as to what the ME determines, which turns out to be natural causes after years of substance abuse. No one would care if Joe dropped the case as the victim is a nobody who took drugs and alcohol, no one that is except conscientious and ethical Joe who begins an inquiry to find a missing cat who he believes will lead to a killer.

Though this reviewer is not sure how Joe found the time to investigate in terms of case workload, readers see the dedicated cop at his best as he makes inquiries into the death of a woman who more likely committed suicide than was murdered. The investigation is terrific as the Morgan crowd refuse to cooperate beyond the specificity of the inquiry as they believe Michelle got her just desserts. However, Joe makes the mystery work with his need to follow his hunch that someone has gotten away with murder.

Harriet Klausner

First, I will say that Archer Mayor was wise to start up a new branch of Vermont state law enforcement (Vermont Bureau of Investigation or VBI) some books back so that Joe could join up and hence move around the whole state. After all, how much crime can take place in Brattleboro with its 12,000 residents, where Joe was merely a detective? With his new role as a VBI special agent, Joe can move around the state and even into other states with more authenticity. So that was a good move by Mayor.

In The Second Mouse, Mayor makes another change by moving in a direction a number of writers take when things are getting too comfortable and predictable in their series: he takes the reader into the minds and actions of the bad guys. I, for one, don't really want to know what the bad guys are up to, because it will be bad and cruel. Personally, I don't see that providing some insight into either dangerous criminals or weak followers makes the story better or more compelling. Mayor's bad guys in this book just give me the creeps. There is a feeling of hopelessness that Ellis can turn things around, and a feeling of helplessness when he deals with Mel. I didn't find those feelings improved the story. That he cares for his dying mother is a nice touch, but it felt contrived.

The initial murder that starts out the book is rather a weak plot device. Mayor usually does better. Ellis' plan to steal the radioactive materials seems impossible for that character and, well, just sort of silly.

I agree with a fellow reviewer that the one-night stand Joe has with a professional colleague of sorts was out of character and rather embarrassing.

I found this book boring. I had trouble wanting to pick it up again after I laid it down for a break. After awhile, I just wanted to get done with it. I have read most of the rest of this series, and I think this is the weakest book so far.

When it is a suicide, or is it? That's the question that gets Joe Gunther to thinking when he listened into on the police frequency and here's about a 'natural'. A natural is a natural death but when Joe looks at the scene his 'spidey' senses go off. Something isn't right, and Joe wants to get to the bottom of what 'really' happened. Since it's a standard procedural, the town cop is happy to let Joe take it off his hands.

What makes this story so attractive and interesting, is that Joe spends most of his time looking at everything related to the 'death' except the dead woman. Joe gets enmeshed with the people who knew her or were tangentially acquainted with her. These so called clues, lead Joe in a totally different direction which in the end helps him to prevent a "real" crime from happening and the capture of a whole bunch of 'bad guys' who had nothing to do with the investigation of the 'natural'. Well done.

Zeb Kantrowitz

This is one of the best Archer Mayor books and I have read them all. My only disappointment was in the ending where I was left to wonder about the final fate of the characters in the subplot. It was hard not to wish for a better outcome because 2 of those characters were written so sympathetically as to give hope that second chances are possible. Was Joe honest with Nancy or leading her on? What happened to her after all was said and done? Did Mel receive just punishment or remain a threat able to haunt Nancy even from jail? When character development is done so well, a bit more closure is important. Looking at the other reviews, no one else seemed to feel shortchanged at the ending so I am no doubt a minority. I agreed with another reviewer about hopefully getting rid of Joe's previous long term relationship. Most of the women the "heros" get involved with seem to end up being a royal pain. It's good to dispose of them so the guys can have another interest, but they never seem to learn. The next one is usually just as bad.