The Dark Root (Joe Gunther Mysteries)
A strong sense of place imbues most good mysteries, whether it's Tony Hillerman's Southwest or Raymond Chandler's L.A. Brattleboro, Vermont, however, seems an unlikely place for streets mean enough to support a series of first-rate cop novels, but author Archer Mayor and his hero, Lieutenant Joe Gunther, will make readers into believers. This time out, Joe investigates a vicious home invasion inflicted on one of the town's few Asian families. The victims will say nothing, but Brattleboro's homegrown hoodlums are frightened of vicious Asian thugs apparently at war over control of the town. Gunther and his fellow cops are outgunned and overmatched unless he can convince an alphabet soup of U.S. and Canadian law enforcement agencies to work together. The novel works in every way a good police procedural must: the cops are good, but they're carrying a lot of human baggage; the bad guys are reallybaaad. There's also a strong sense that the depiction of Asian organized crime is as timely and real as a CNN news report. And Mayor's Brattleboro is a fascinating place that beckons readers to return.Thomas Gaughan--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.