ST. ALBANS FIRE (Police Proc-Vermont/NJ-Cont) – VGMayor, Archer – 16th in seriesMysterious Press, 2005- HardcoverVermont Bureau of Investigation Agent Joe Gunthur is called out to the scene of a barn fire; an arson that became a murder with the discovery of a young man's body. As the investigation proceeds, it's discovered that this is only one of a series of recent arsons. The trail leads to New Jersey and a mob-connected "torch," but the question is; who hired him? *** Mayor really knows how to write an effective police procedural. He creates strong, realistic, interesting characters, including very good female characters. The sense of place and dialogue are excellent. I particularly liked the way the story builds on itself, revealing the clues and building to an excellent ending, which surprised me, and made me think. Each year, I look forward to his new book. This year he met, and exceeded my expectations.
It's hard on me to only rate this book as two stars because the author is a Vermonter, like I now am. Unfortunaely, it's because Mayor writes about Vermont that I was disappointed. Hardly any of St. Albans history or geography shows up in this novel. It may as well have been titled, "Fire in an undisclosed Vermont town." As far as I could tell, only Taylor Park makes an appearance. Even the other places mentioned in the story, presumably in Franklin County but seemingly in Chittenden County, receive no fanfare. There's more detail about Newark, New Jersey in this book than Vermont. Oh well.Other than that major disappointment, Mayor does a nice job putting together a mystery. The story may be a bit formulaic, and much of the detective work needed to be hand-fed to lead-character Joe Gunther, but it will at least keep you reading.
Do You like book St. Albans Fire (2013)?
c2005: FWFTB: dairy, arson, barn, farming, cutthroat. This was the only book in the Joe Gunther series that I could get my hands on. I had wanted to read some more after reading the first in the series courtesy of a freebie on Kindle. Obviously, a lot has happened to Joe between the 1st book and this one. Although the writing and pace is as good as ever, the plot device of placing people that Joe cares about in danger is one of my pet hates and this prejudice overcame everything else. It is a more depressing book than the first which also didn't help. Recommended for those hard boiled fans in the normal crew. Most of all, he knew Gunther would soon be feeling the same pain Gino was carrying around in his chest like a stone.
—Ruth
