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The Ragman's Memory (2013)

The Ragman's Memory (2013)

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Series
Rating
3.97 of 5 Votes: 3
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Language
English
Publisher
marchmedia

About book The Ragman's Memory (2013)

I am obsessively plowing through this guy's output. They are police procedurals set in and around Brattleboro, Vt. This one is particularly good. A couple are clunkers, like "Occam's (Mammy-Tammy) Razor," which I am wishing would just end already.The hero is Joe Gunther, a Brattleboro cop (and later a leading force in the fictional and rather ominous-sounding Vermont Bureau of Investigation). He's hooked up with a high-maintenance power woman, but Mayor doesn't beat it to death. The side characters are entertaining.The plots get complicated and delve into the past - think Ross McDonald.Most are written in the first person; the pair of third-person novels I read suffered. Mayor should drop that gimmick.The stuff about stupid selectmen and ineffective, dithering commissions and boards reads especially true to those who have covered such entities for a newspaper.

PROTAGONIST: Lieut. Joe GuntherSETTING: Brattleboro, VermontSERIES: #7 of 25RATING: 3.25WHY: It begins with the discovery of human hair in a bird's nest, followed by a series of bizarre deaths. The small Brattleboro, Vermont, police force under the leadership of Joe Gunther, faces lots of challenges in investigating so many cases. I like the character of Gunther a lot; he shows deep compassion for all whom he encounters. Unfortunately, several of the other main characters--Willy Kunkle, Sammie, Gail--don't feel so real to me. The complexity of the plot plus the numerous descriptions of the local setting made this a slow read for me.

Do You like book The Ragman's Memory (2013)?

Last year Amazon offered most of the earl entries in this series as part of the Kindle Daily Deal, and I leaped at the chance to stock up on this reliable and intriguing look at life in Brattleboro, New Hampshire. Archer Mayor's cop is a good guy to have around when I'm sick or stuck in an airport.The Ragman reference is to survivors of the Battle of the Bulge: "In the end, after the Americans had gained the upper hand and were pushing the German bulge back to the border, they started finding people like Bernie--wide-eyed, shell-shocked ghosts of their former selves walking around like robots. They called them 'ragmen,' which may be the best description I've ever heard. Many were brought back to some form of mental stability, others were less lucky."Bernie is in a nursing home at this point, but he holds the key to this intriguing tale.
—Kay

1996, #7 Lt. Joe Gunther, Brattleboro, Vermont; police procedural.What do a rag, a bone, and a hank of hair have to do with corruption in the building trades and nasty goings-on by The Powers That Be (financially) in Brattleboro? Mayor beautifully weaves together several odd deaths, a bird’s nest, a lost bum with rabies and a lot of money, a love affair gone bad, a young girl just looking to get away from it all, a reclusive millionaire and his nasty brother, and a WW2 vet who never left 1945 and endlessly replays battles in his mind. Beautiful stuff, well-paced and, unlike the previous book, entirely set among Brattleboro’s various citizens and peculiar neighborhoods. Wonderful read - I love “visiting” with Joe.
—Abbey

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