Today is publication day for this book which I reviewed back in May thanks to a digital ARC I received via NetGalley. Since this is publication day, I thought I would remind folks of my review.
It is late winter as Fall Guy: A Joe Gunther Novel
by Archer Mayor begins and Joe Gunther, Field Force Commander of the Vermont
Bureau of Investigation, have been summoned out to a scene bathed in a sea of
strobe lights from numerous agencies. It appears that the only party not there
is the local dog catcher.
A stolen Mercedes four door sedan has been discovered
abandoned. The car was reported stolen by the owner, Lemuel Shaw several days
ago. Thanks to problems with the onboard GPS system, it was not tracked from
the house in New Hampshire to the final resting place here in Vermont.
If it was a simple stolen car that would be one
thing and would not have generated the massive law enforcement response. In
addition to numerous obviously stolen items in the car, there is a dead body in
the trunk.
If that was not enough, there were six cell phones
in the car. At least one of the phones has pornographic images of a young child
on it and the pictures are clearly very recent. That phone is also tied into
New Hampshire which creates an avenue for Joe and his team to join an Internet
Crimes Against Children Task force with their New Hampshire colleagues. It also
gives them a way to retain jurisdictional control over a rapidly more
complicated case.
One that will cross state lines repeatedly as Joe
Gunther and his team works to figure out what caused Don Kalfus to wind up dead
in the trunk of a rich man’s car. Along the way, they rescue a young girl from
a horribly abusive situation, and solve at least one cold case from long ago.
The books in this series are always very complicated
and this one is no exception. The police family are always a major factor in
these books, on and off the job, and such is the case in this read as well. All
hands are on deck and repeatedly a part of everything as the team works to
clean up a nasty and extremely entangled mess.
Complicated and highly entertaining, Fall Guy: A Joe Gunther Novel by Archer Mayor is a solidly good read that keeps readers guessing in right to the end.
My reading copy was a digital ARC courtesy of the
publisher, Minotaur Books, via NetGalley.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2022
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