Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2013
336 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
"Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead." - Ben Franklin
Joe Gunther and his team - the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI) - are usually called in on major cases by local Vermont enforcement whenever they need expertise and back-up. But after the state is devastated by Hurricane Irene, the police from one end of the state are taxed to their limits, leaving Joe Gunther involved in an odd, seemingly unrelated series of cases. In the wake of the hurricane, a seventeen year old gravesite is exposed, revealing a coffin that had been filled with rocks instead of the expected remains.
At the same time, an old, retired state politician turns up dead at his high-end nursing home, in circumstances that leave investigators unsure that he wasn't murdered. And a patient who calls herself The Governor has walked away from a state mental facility during the post-hurricane flood. It turns out that she was indeed once "Governor for a Day," over forty years ago, but that she might have also been falsely committed and drugged to keep her from revealing something that she saw all those years ago. Amidst the turmoil and the disaster relief, it's up to Joe Gunther and his team to learn what really happened with the two corpses - one missing - and what secret "The Governor" might have still locked in her brain that links them all.
"While the two different cases could be confusing to readers, Mayor handles each adeptly and shrewdly, bringing them to separate and startling conclusions." - Publishers Weekly
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: archermayor.com
Archer Mayor is the author of the Vermont-based crime fiction series featuring Detective Joe Gunther. He is the 2004 winner of the New England Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction—the first time a writer of crime literature has been so honored. Before turning his hand to fiction, Mayor wrote history books, the most notable of which was Southern Timberman: The Legacy of William Buchanan.
Mayor continues to work as a death investigator for Vermont's Chief Medical Examiner, a Deputy Sheriff for Windham County, VT, an investigator for the Windham County State’s Attorney’s office, the publisher of his own backlist, a travel writer for AAA, and he travels the Northeast giving speeches and conducting workshops. He also has 25 years experience as a volunteer ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Archer Mayor's Website
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