Second Mouse by Archer Mayor

Archer Mayor’s Joe Gunther series is one of those steady series that you look forward to every year or two, as Mayor completes another episode. Having said that, I’m still catching up. I think I have 5 more to go, to be up to date. There are 22 books in the series, so that’s a pretty steep investment of time.

Second Mouse starts out with a dead body that apparently died of natural causes. Joe Gunther, head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation hears the call on his police radio and, being in the neighborhood, stops by. VBI only takes major cases, but he was curious.

Of course the case leaves some questions/doubts in his mind and it eventually falls into his domain. The book is basically two cases that merge into one. Michelle Fisher is the dead body. Her live in boyfriend, Archie, died several months before and his father is trying to evict from the house she and Archie rented from him.

Mel, Ellis and Nancy are three petty thieves. Mel is the brains, Ellis is his cohort and Nancy is his wife. They’ve got a record a mile long. Mel is always full of new schemes, always involving the other two. This time it’s a drug deal.

One of the things that makes a mystery good is identifying with the characters, becoming part of the family, so to speak and Joe Gunther seems like family. I’ve watched him grow, get a girlfriend (and now lose her), change jobs, deal with his brother and parents, the whole bit. Joe’s not philosopical like Moe Prager (Reed Farrel Coleman). He’s more like Steve Carella from Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series; kinda like a close friend.

If you’re looking for a new mystery, a new venue (Vermont) and a new friend, start with Open Season (written in 1988) and keep going. That’s my suggestion.