The Company She Kept

July 6, 2015
Joe Gunther shows no sign of slowing down in Mayor’s accomplished 26th novel featuring the field force commander of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (after 2014’s Proof Positive). When the half-frozen body of Susan Raffner, a Vermont state senator, is found hanging from a cliff off the interstate with the word Dyke carved on her chest, the state’s governor, Gail Zigman, puts Gunther in charge of the case. Gunther, who knew and respected Raffner, a polarizing activist and Zigman’s close friend and adviser, can count on the usual colorful crew to help him out. The irascible Willy Kunkle and the reckless Sammie Martens, the only female on the VBI squad, shine as they pursue the possibly misleading few clues. A thorough vetting of Raffner’s activities and associates yields some surprising results. Mayor does a good job dramatizing the political and cultural conflicts, but it’s the special push-the-envelope talents of Gunther and his team that make this series so enjoyable. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Agency.

August 1, 2015
Vermont state senator Susan Raffner is a liberal political crusader and Governor Gail Zigman's closest advisor. When Raffner's body is discovered hanging from a cliff face, it's all hands on deck for Joe Gunther's Vermont Bureau of Investigation. Raffner's death is quickly determined to be murder, and the fact that DYKE was carved into her chest spells hate crime. The VBI is facing a wide-ranging investigation under unprecedented media coverage. The governor, who was once involved with Gunther, increases the media frenzy by acknowledging that she and Raffner were lovers. Mayor's novels always work best when the crime, the solution, and the VBI stay in Vermont. This one does, ranging from Brattleboro in the south to the state's insular Northeast Kingdom, and it affords Mayor full opportunity to write engagingly and sometimes lyrically about the beauties, virtues, and quirks of his home state. The author's legion of fans will also be surprised to learn new things about Joe's longtime subordinates, Sammie Martens and the always irascible Willy Kunkel. This is another fine entry in a series that has been engaging crime devotees for more than a quarter century.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

April 15, 2015

One snowy morning, Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team are brought in when the body of a state senator is found strung up above the interstate with the word dyke carved in her chest. Talk about authentic; when he's not writing this New York Times best-selling series, Mayor serves as state medical examiner and an investigator for the sheriff's department in Vermont.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.