Joe Gunther
Encyclopedia
Joe Gunther is the hero of Archer Mayor
's longrunning mystery novel series set largely in Brattleboro
, Vermont
. When the series begins, Gunther has already worked as a police officer for thirty years and is an experienced police lieutenant
. He is a veteran of the Korean War
and a widow
er.
The Joe Gunther mystery series includes 20 books.
Archer Mayor
Archer Mayor is the author of the Joe Gunther detective series. Archer is a Yale graduate and lives in Newfane, Vermont, USA.Before turning to popular fiction, Mayor held several jobs, both in the US and in France, working as an editor, researcher for Time–Life books, photography and journalist...
's longrunning mystery novel series set largely in Brattleboro
Brattleboro (town), Vermont
Brattleboro, originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located in the southeast corner of the state, along the state line with New Hampshire. The population was 12,046 at the 2010 census...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
. When the series begins, Gunther has already worked as a police officer for thirty years and is an experienced police lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
. He is a veteran of the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
er.
The Joe Gunther mystery series includes 20 books.
- Open Season (1988) begins with a series of intricate crimes in which innocent people are framed. Gunther is forced, to the consternation of his fellow officers, to open up a three-year-old closed case in which a black man was convicted of the rape and murder of a young white girl. Gradually, evidence mounts that the convicted man is innocent, and unknown forces will stop at nothing to find the real criminal. An online review
- Borderlines (1990) begins with Gunther taking a working vacation in Vermont's rural Northeast KingdomNortheast KingdomThe Northeast Kingdom is a term used to describe the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Vermont, comprising Essex, Orleans and Caledonia Counties and having a population of 62,438. In Vermont, the written term "NEK" is often used. The term is attributed to the late George D. Aiken, former...
. But the town he's visiting has been divided since a back-to-nature cultCultThe word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
group known as The Order bought up half the real estate. A cultists' house is burned and the family inside killed, setting off the townfolk's resentment and leading to more murders. Worse, the police suspect that one of Gunther's oldest friends is one of the killers. - In Scent Of Evil (1991), the murder of a stockbroker is the opening crime in a series of elaborate frame-ups. Gunther again faces a killer who is a clever manipulator, working anonymous mayhem to settle old grudges.
- The Skeleton's Knee (1992) opens with the death from natural causes of a hermit with a very suspicious case history. The police discover a skeleton on his property with an artificial knee dating back to the '60s. Gunther goes to Chicago hoping to find the man who implanted the knee and encounters a sordid past involving stolen mob money, double crosses and a ruthless killer.
- In Fruits Of the Poisonous Tree (1993) Gunther's lover Gail is raped, and after a painstaking search and a dangerous manhunt, the district attorney and the police think they have found their man. Gunther's instincts, however, tell him that their suspect may be the victim of a frame-up. Going against the tide of popular opinion, he follows his gut and opens the case back up in the middle of the trial.