Archer Mayor Books

"In Archer Mayor's intriguing new Vermont-based mystery, The Orphan's Guilt, a straightforward traffic stop snowballs into a homicide investigation after Joe Gunther and his fellow investigators peel back layer upon layer of history and personal heartbreak to learn a decades-old hidden truth. John Rust is arrested for drunk driving by a Vermont state trooper. Looking to find mitigating circumstances, John's lawyer hires private eye Sally Kravitz to look into the recent death of John's younger brother, purportedly from a childhood brain injury years earlier. But what was the nature of that injury, and might its mechanism point more to murder than to natural causes? That debate brings in Joe Gunther and his team. Gunther's efforts quickly uncover an ancient tale of avarice, betrayal, and vengeance that swirled around the Rust boys growing up. Their parents and the people they consorted with - forgotten, relentless, but now jolted to action by this simple set of circumstances - emerge with a destructive passion. All while the presumably innocent John Rust mysteriously vanishes with no explanation"--Provided by publisher

Set against the backdrop of a bomber's moon, the story explores the tension and danger of nighttime missions. As characters navigate the darkness, they grapple with the duality of visibility—while they can spot their targets, they are also exposed to unseen threats. This creates a suspenseful atmosphere where every decision could lead to dire consequences, highlighting the precarious balance between pursuit and peril.

In this gripping mystery, Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team delve into a complex case involving both a murder and an arson. As they uncover clues and navigate the intricacies of the investigation, tensions rise and secrets unfold, challenging their skills and resolve. The narrative intertwines suspense with character development, highlighting the dynamics of the team as they confront unexpected twists and the darker aspects of human nature.

Eighth in the series of police procedurals set in Vermont.

In Archer Mayor's Marked Man, the death of a local millionaire becomes suspicious when Joe Gunther learns that he was not who he claimed. A year ago, local philanthropist and millionaire Nathan Lyon died a natural death in his sprawling mansion, a 150,000 square foot converted mill, surrounded by his loving, attentive family. Or so it seemed at the time. Now Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team has discovered that almost nothing about that story was true. Nathan Lyon was actually Nick Bianchi from Providence, Rhode Island. His money came from Mafia-tainted sources. And his family now seems to be dying themselves and their deaths are now revealed to be murders. As Gunther’s team desperately works to uncover what is going on at The Mill, who is responsible and what they are trying to accomplish, Joe himself travels to Rhode Island to look into the original source of the money. While the police are doing their jobs, private investigator Sally Kravitz teams up with reporter Rachel Reiling to expose the truth behind this tangled and expanding web of duplicity, greed, and obsession. Having betrayed many, it’s no surprise that Nathan Lyon was a marked man. But now Gunther has to figure out who, among the many, killed him, and stop them before their killing spree claims another.

Diesseits ins Jenseits - bk1479; Goldmann Verlag; Archer Mayor; pocket_book; 1993