The Catch
By Archer Mayor
2008, 274 pages
Setting: Contemporary New England
Joe Gunther, head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, is called in to investigate the murder of Deputy Sheriff Brian Sleuter, which appears to have taken place during a routine traffic stop on a remote country road. The pair that Sleuter stopped have a drug history, and as Gunther and his team follow the meager leads provided by the police cruiser’s video recorder, they find themselves teaming up with other agencies to pursue drug dealers and distributors in Boston and up the coast of Maine to the Canadian border. Gun battles ensue and some bad guys get killed, but Gunther feels frustrated by the lack of progress in his own case. Will he ever track down Sleuter’s killer?
In this, the 19th title in the Joe Gunther series, Mayor once again gives us a great plot with many twists and turns and a surprise ending. If you have been a fan of Archer Mayor’s previous Joe Gunther police procedurals, you won’t be disappointed in this one.
And if you’ve never read any of Mayor’s mysteries, now just might be the time to start!
Mary Anne Chapman
Reference librarian emeritus