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Archer Mayor biography

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Archer Mayor
Photo: archermayor.com

Archer Mayor

Archer Mayor Biography

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 firefighter/EMT.

From the author's website

Archer Mayor's website

This bio was last updated on 08/08/2015. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Interview

Archer Mayor answers questions about himself, and his long-running series featuring Vermont police officer Joe Gunther, including why he never writes about what he knows, and instead writes about what he wants to find out about!

PW: What's your background?
AM: I'm a global bum. I've lived all over the world, in 30 to 40 places. My mother is Argentine, my father was born outside Gloucester, Mass. My work background is nothing if not chaotically peripatetic—journalism, editing, historical writing. What sew it all together are the twin engines that fuel me as a writer—ignorance and curiosity. I never write about what I know, but what I want to find out about.

PW: Why do you write mysteries?
AM: I wanted to make a living as a writer and pragmatically if there was a chance to do so—and statistically there isn't—mysteries were a viable market then [the 1980s]. Mysteries were no longer about good or bad guys and car chases, they were about human beings who happen to be good or bad guys, and what they do. I don't like pure puzzle mysteries. I like mysteries about three-dimensional human beings who interact. When we can't make sense of the real world, we read a form of literature that's the same thing, but with a beginning, middle and end where the good guys win. It helps make reality more understandable.

PW: How much research do you do?
AM: A lot. I have a habit that continues to this day of ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Archer Mayor at BookBrowse
Proof Positive jacket Three Can Keep a Secret jacket Paradise City jacket Red Herring jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Archer Mayor but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • P.J. Parrish

    P.J. Parrish

    P.J. Parrish is the New York Times bestselling author of ten Louis Kincaid and Joe Frye thrillers. The author is actually two sisters, Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols. The series has garnered 11 major crime-fiction awards, ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    St Albans Fire

    Try:
    Dead of Winter
    by P.J. Parrish

  • Ian Rankin

    Ian Rankin

    Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature.

    After ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    St Albans Fire

    Try:
    A Question of Blood
    by Ian Rankin

We recommend 4 similar authors

View all 4 Read-Alikes

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