The
Second Mouse
A
Joe Gunther Mystery
Archer
Mayor
Mysterious
Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-89296-072-8 (0892960728)
ISBN-13: 978-0-89296-072-9 (9780892960729)
Publication Date: October 2006
List Price: $24.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): A legend among Vermont cops, Joe Gunther has solved
more local whodunits than a whole squad of detectives. But his latest
case takes him and his team off their Brattleboro home turf, forty-two
miles west, to chip-on-its-shoulder, blue-collar Bennington.
On the edge of town, Gunther encounters the lifeless body of Michelle
Fisher. Her corpse, pale and seemingly at peace, offers him no clues
about who she was or how she died. There are no signs of violence, no
disorder. Snapshots and postcards show a woman who laughed hard and
lived harder. Yet diaries reveal a rootless life marred by depression
and drink. Suicide seems a reasonable conclusion, but Gunther suspects
foul play. The house is for sale, after all, and Michelle was its only
tenant-one who resisted all efforts to have her evicted. The unsavory
landlord is a prime suspect, but is safely equipped with an
impressively air-tight alibi.
Now to uncover the truth about the fate of this discarded, all but
forgotten woman, Gunther must follow a confusing trail of half leads
and mounting crimes. He draws near to a violent and careless trio of
criminals, whose leader is hell-bent on making the career move of a
lifetime-and willing to step on anyone who might get in his way.
Review: The
Second Mouse is Archer
Mayor's latest mystery featuring Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI)
field commander Joe Gunther. Although not strictly his case, Gunther is
intrigued by the death of Michelle Fisher whose apparent suicide
doesn't quite agree with some inconsistencies found at the scene of her
death.
The story alternates between two seemingly unrelated cases. Michelle,
whose boyfriend had recently died, was living in the house that legally
belonged to his father, a man that desperately wanted her out of his
house. Was she so despondent that suicide seemed to be the only answer,
or was her death the result of a more sinister act? The other case
presents three fascinating, and completely different characters,
together leading a life of crime that escalates from simple larceny to
murder. Could one or more of them somehow have been involved in
Michelle's life, and possibly be the cause of her death?
There is considerable appeal for the reader in trying to determine how
these cases are related and will ultimately be resolved. The solution
to the mystery surrounding Michelle's death is fairly evident early on,
but this in no way lessens the satisfaction of seeing how Gunther
connects the cases. "Things have a funny way of working out" he says at
the end of the book. If not always according to plan.
Mayor has a spare, clean style of writing. Shortly after arriving at
Michelle's house for the first time, Gunther mentally notes that dead
bodies "... displayed all the variety that they had in life, but in
none of the same ways." And that they were "... capable of a kind of
frozen, extraordinarily subtle form of sign language." He then asks
himself, "... how many of the dead might have struggled fruitlessly to
be heard in life, only to be scrutinized too late by total strangers
anxious to see or hear even the slightest twitch or murmur." This is
wonderfully perceptive prose, and illustrative of how much of the book
is written.
Though The
Second Mouse is the 17th
mystery for Gunther, Mayor manages to keep the series as fresh as new
fallen Vermont snow. It is highly recommended.
Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for providing a copy of The Second Mouse for this review.
Review Copyright © 2006 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read The Second Mouse? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Open
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ISBN-10: 0-89296-470-7 (0892964707)
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The
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ISBN-10: 0-89296-636-X (089296636X)
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ISBN-10: 0-89296-637-8 (0892966378)
ISBN-13: 978-0-89296-637-0 (9780892966370)
The
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ISBN-10: 0-89296-685-8 (0892966858)
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The
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ISBN-13: 978-0-89296-072-9 (9780892960729)
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Omnimystery
keywords for The Second Mouse
...
Location(s) referenced: Vermont.
