The Sniper's Wife (Joe Gunther Mystery) [Kindle Edition]

Archer Mayor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Willy Kunkle, a deputy cop, gets his own book in the largely under-the-radar series of thoughtful mysteries featuring Vermont police chief Joe Gunther. Called to New York to claim the body of his ex-wife, the apparent victim of a drug overdose, Willy is forced to confront his troubled past while seeking evidence to support his hunch that the Manhattan cops are overlooking what is actually a homicide. Meanwhile, Gunther and another deputy, Willy's lover, run interference with the NYPD, where the cops aren't sure whether they ought to be helping Kunkle find a killer or arresting him before he becomes one. A thoughtful, powerful, psychologically acute novel that deserves to break Archer Mayor out the midlist, The Sniper's Wife draws the reader inside the mind of a protagonist who justly deserves the focused attention Mayor pays him. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

This intricate, first-rate thriller delves into the troubled past of Mayor's most complex character, Detective Willy Kunkle, of Joe Gunther's Vermont Bureau of Investigation. When Kunkle learns that his ex-wife Mary overdosed on heroin in Manhattan, he hastens there to identify her body. Suspecting murder, he convinces Ward Ogden, a high-ranking NYPD detective, to reopen the case. In tracing Mary's life in New York, Kunkle revisits his own Manhattan childhood, membership in the NYPD, the trauma of Vietnam and strained relations with his dysfunctional family. When he's arrested during a raid on an illegal club, Joe and Detective Sammie Martens, Kunkle's lover, come to New York, and the two country cops prove they're as astute as their city counterparts. As the plot becomes more convoluted but never confusing Kunkle's quest for Mary's killer parallels Ogden's and Joe's. A harrowing chase through New England leads them all to the defunct Portsmouth Naval Prison in New Hampshire and a heart-stopping finale. Mayor's understanding of human behavior makes his tortured protagonist an unforgettable character. His powers of description not confined to Vermont, the author imbues well-known and obscure New York neighborhoods with a sparkling sense of place. A riveting plot and exceptional writing will surely enhance Mayor's reputation.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 464 KB
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (December 14, 2008)
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001N2ZWYI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,730 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting Tour de Force, September 17, 2004

By 

prisrob "pris," (New England USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Sniper's Wife (Mass Market Paperback)

Of course, I know Archer Mayor; he is from Vermont and writes detective stories about cities and places I know. But I also know and have worked with Archer's brother. The best part of Archer Mayor's books is that he is such a great writer. He keeps us on the edge of our seats, so to speak. We are not certain just what will happen next. And, in "The Sniper's Wife", we now go to New York City and find new people and places to love.

Willy Kunkle, newly promoted to Detective in the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, receives a call none of us want to get. His ex-wife has died and the NYPD Blue is asking him to identify her. He drives to New York City and goes to the morgue first and identifies her, then to her apartment where he goes over everything. He finds not much but a mess the police have left. He finds a few pictures and keepsakes. He cleans the apartment as his ex-wife would want it. He remembers her and why they split. Willy was a drunk and beat his wife once and she left him, as she should. She became a junkie, but had cleaned up her act. He did not believe that his wife committed suicide as described. He believes that this is murder.

Willy goes on to meet the NYPD police and reads his ex-wife's record. He starts his investigation, but not without calling on his boss, Joe Gunther and Willy's new girl, Detective Sammie Martin. Thus his friends can deal with the NYPD as he goes about finding who murdered his wife.

This is a wonderful story of love and redemption in a different setting of murder and police work. Archer Mayor has given new life to Willy Kunkle and set us free from Joe Gunther for a few pages. This is as exciting a novel as any and so well written. Highly recommended. prisrob

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Thriller, May 13, 2003

By 

Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sniper's Wife (Hardcover)

Archer Mayor's The Sniper's Wife is a gripping thriller and an enjoyable, compelling read. I have never read any of Mayor's novels before, so I cannot compare them to the rest of the Joe Gunther series, but as a newcomer, I thought this novel was excellent. Willy Kunkle is a man haunted by a number of ghosts, and at the outset of the novel, he gets a new ghost--his ex-wife, who is found dead of an apparent heroin overdose in New York City. Kunkle immediately heads to New York from Vermont to identify the body, but is immediately pulled into finding out the true cause of her death. Things don't add up for Kunkle and he embarks on a one man mission to discover what really happened. The novel reads like one of the better Law and Order episodes--you won't be able to put it down. Enjoy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong Series Continues: A Sniper's Wife by Archer Mayor, December 12, 2003

By 

Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Sniper's Wife (Hardcover)

After thirteen Joe Gunther series novels, it is understandable that Archer Mayor might want to do something different. While many authors would ditch the old series and write something totally different, Archer Mayor decided to do something a bit different. Instead, he decided to devote a novel to the complex and enigmatic character often seen in the Joe Gunther series known as Willy Kunkle. For fans of the series, this is a fantastic development as the back-story on the very complex character of Willy Kunkle is finally revealed completely. For those new to the series, this is not a stand-alone book and as such should be read after reading the other novels in the series. While it could be read independently, to do so would ruin a large chunk of the series as these events are commented in this novel. These factors also make this very enjoyable book difficult to review without committing the same folly.

Newly installed as a Detective in the recently created Vermont Bureau of Investigation, Willy Kunkle receives a call that drags him back into a past that he thought he had left behind. The New York City police have found his divorce papers in an apartment rented by a woman who apparently died of a drug overdose. The investigators want him to come to New York and identify the body and handle all the usual details.

After identifying the body as his ex-wife Mary, Willy begins to nose into the case. Driven by guilt and anger over the past and present day events, Willy treats her death as his own to investigate. He spots inconsistencies with the story he is being given by the local Police and those are reinforced when he physically investigates the crime scene. Then, he begins to backtrack into her life and as he does so, not only must he confront various things from his past but he must also deal with a complex changing case that the local Police should not have been so quick to solve.

To say more in greater detail about this novel would simply blow this book as well as most of the series for any reader. This is a fast, intense read that answers a lot of questions about the character as well as providing a complex mystery. There are constant twists and turns that move the book steadily forward and the back-story is nicely woven into the novel. For fans of the series, this novel is a real treat and one that should not be missed.