The Marble Mask (Joe Gunther Mysteries)
Joe Gunther, a Brattleboro, Vermont, cop, is the head of the new Vermont  Bureau of Investigation (VBI), a joint task force charged with statewide  responsibility for major crimes. InThe Marble Mask, the VBI's first case  takes the force north to Stowe, where a 50-year-old corpse has turned up in a  crevasse on Mt. Mansfield. Some of the more interesting minor characters in  author Archer Mayor's long-running series about the amiable elder sleuth make  return appearances here as Joe's teammates--like one-armed Willy, a former wife-beater who's now playing footsie with Sammie Martens, one of Joe's favorite  colleagues. When the frozen stiff turns out to be a (formerly) big-time Canadian  crime boss named Jean Deschamps, who disappeared after World War II, Joe and his  gang cross the border to work with the Mounties, the Sûreté, and the local cops  in Sherbrooke, where Deschamps's son Marcel is involved in a turf war with the  Hell's Angels and a rival gang of thugs. Old secrets and intrigues come to  light while an intricate plan to frame a dying man for a crime half a century  old forms an interesting puzzle that's not fully revealed until the last couple  of pages.Mayor excels at painting a picture of a time and place that's as authentic as  maple syrup, and in Joe he's created a Cooperesque character who's almost as  enigmatic as the mist-shrouded mountains of his beloved state. Skiers who've  schussed down Stowe's fabled slopes will enjoy Mayor's recreation of the town in  its bygone era as well as the description of its renaissance as a major  tourist attraction today. Joe doesn't change much from book to book, but that's  fine with Mayor's fans. He's a good cop, a quiet hero, a reliable guy, and his  11th appearance in this tightly woven mystery is cause for cheer.--Jane  Adams--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.