I just finished reading an advance copy of Archer Mayor's upcoming Joe Gunther novel, "The Price of Malice," and I must say I really liked it.
Mayor picks up threads he left off in his last novel, "The Catch," and adds many new twists, starting with a murder scene with a strange set of clues in the opening chapter. As the book goes on, Mayor adds an unnerving look into Brattleboro's underbelly, the aspects of our town that those of us who are smug about living here tend to forget. He also subjects his main character, Joe Gunther, to a moral and professional dilemma that takes him into new territory. In "The Price of Malice," Gunther isn't quite the rock of stability he has been in the past, and the result is a book of unusual depth and earthiness.
I'm not the expert in Mayor's work that his true fans are, but I have read five or six of the 20 Joe Gunther mysteries he's written. I'm willing to say this is my favorite.
"The Price of Malice" is due out in October. I'd love to know what you think of it when you read it.