Mon 2 Dec 2019
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
ARCHER MAYOR – Bomber’s Moon. Joe Gunther #30. Minotaur Books, hardcover, September 2019.
First Sentence: It was cold, dark, and slightly breezy, causing a few dry snowflakes to scurry the length of Sally Kravitz’s windshield.
PI Sally Kravitz works within the law, as opposed to her father, a thief known as “Tag Man.” Rachel Reiling is a reporter working at the Brattleboro Reformer, hoping for her first big story. Now, thanks to Joe Gunther, head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, the two women are working together to connect two murders to a prestigious prep school.
While this is a new entry in the Vermont Bureau of Investigation/Joe Gunther series, Mayor provides a good sense of each of his characters beginning with a nicely done introduction of Joe, but also a strong sense of place as well. It’s refreshing to have two female characters take a significant role. Also enjoyable is that they are not members of the police, and that they are quite different from one another, yet find a way to work well together.
One may find oneself smiling at how well it is done. Interesting 3D crime scene technology brings the story into today’s technology. There are times where the scene would change which reminded me of the classic two-note indicator on the old police show Dragnet and could make the story feel a bit disjointed.
There are lighter moments— “Idle chat in Vermont was always punctuated by discussions of mud season, mosquito plagues, heat waves, dry spells, snowstorms, black ice, and countless other attributes of a muscular, quirky seasonal parade of weather-related iconography.” Mayor does treat one to a lovely use of language— “Biased as he was against other people’s learning curves, obdurateness, or rank stupidity, he distrusted his own predisposition to dismiss people prematurely.”
The book is a delightfully intricate Venn diagram of circles neatly intersecting circles. It’s not manipulative, but one becomes more intrigued as the pattern emerges. The characters are interesting especially as not everyone is as they seem, and a new friendship evolves which one hopes to see continue.
Bomber’s Moon is a very good book, brilliantly plotted. Even the ending was a perfect reflection of the characters.
Rating: Very Good.
December 2nd, 2019 at 6:57 pm
I agree. I’ve read the series from book one to now, and besides the way he moves each book to a different part of Vermont (and, rarely, out of state), a benefit is that different books feature different characters. This is perfectly illustrated in this book with the two new (well, Rachel has been in one or two earlier books) women taking major roles.
December 2nd, 2019 at 9:14 pm
One of the best and most consistent mystery writers writing today, not sure he has ever written a bad book.
Early in the series Gunther’s girlfriend is raped, and he handles the emotional toll on everyone with realism and makes you feel the pain and helplessness everyone is feeling.
Had fallen behind in my reading of the series, just started back again a couple of months ago, and am glad I did.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:34 pm
I still haven’t gotten around to reading any of them, and I’m sure I promised I would the last time one of Mayor’s books came up for discussion.
Even though this is number 30 in the series (!), it sounds like a good place fo me to jump in.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:15 pm
Mayor is always worth reading.