1998, #9 Lt. Joe Gunther, Brattleboro VT; police procedural/spy thriller. A dead body in an abandoned quarry leads Joe and his crew on a convoluted journey into the cold war past, the current Russian Mob, and a generally interesting exploration of lying and truth-telling, friendship and shared experiences. Rather a bit too much “spy vs. spy” for my taste, and the climax is far too close to “Die Hard” for my comfort, but the plotting is very good. the pacing excellent, and the characterizations are superb, hence the very highest rating - it was a fun read. We get to learn a great deal more about just what makes the important people in the series “tick”: Joe, his lover Gail, Willy and Sammie his closest friends on the force - some of it is wrenching, and all of it’s interesting. I would not recommend this as your first Mayor to read of this series unless you really love convoluted spy tales, as it’s not representative of the extremely good police procedural writing Mayor can, and does, do in the earlier books.
Early in this book I was really taken with the writing and story line but by half way through it became a mish mash of Russian names CIA characters who were never clear and a plot that made no sense. I found it difficult to believe that the main character, Joe Guenther, who has won so many awards for his police work in Vermont would immediately be believed to be turned to the dark side as stealing a precious piece of jewelry with only a few of his own team taking his side. Conversely the clarification, after a conflict between Russian gangs on a hilltop, seemed so over the top that was hard to believe too. I always start out liking an Archer Mayor book but always feel lost or bored by the mid-point.
