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When an author creates a cast of characters that come alive on the page, to the point that I feel as if they actually exist somewhere—and I want to revisit them again and again—then he or she quickly becomes one of my favorite writers. And Archer Mayor does just that with Chat, his latest Joe Gunther mystery.
In the small town of Brattleboro, Vermont, two unidentified men are drawn to a hotel and murdered for no apparent reason and no obvious identifiable cause of death. Why would two normal men show up at a hotel on bogus business trips, ask for two key cards, and then end up dead? A clandestine affair gone wrong, perhaps? As Special Agent Joe Gunther of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation looks deeper, he’s taken into the world of chat rooms, where underage girls are preyed upon by older men.
While Joe is investigating the homicides, his brother and disabled mother are in a suspicious car accident, which leads back to a young man named Andy—a man
Joe arrested and the courts convicted, who committed suicide after spending time in prison. Someone is out to get even with Joe for his role in Andy’s death, and they’ve started with those he loves the most.
Chat is an engaging, suspense-filled read that goes deeper than just a
mystery. You get to know the people of Brattleboro—those who are an enigma, those you’d love to work with, those you’d love to hang around with, and even those you come to dislike. It’s a place you’re going to want to return to more than once.
With a captivating main plot and an equally enticing subplot, Chat keeps the investigative fires burning as you try to untangle the mystery and discover who is behind each crime. You may figure out a small part of it, but you’ll still be taken by surprise when it all comes together in the end.
Though Chat is my first foray into the Joe Gunther Mystery series, I already know that others in the series must be as appealing and outstanding as this one. And I have no doubt that future mysteries will only get better. You really don’t want to miss out on this, so rush to your nearest bookstore to pick up a copy of Chat—along with any of Mr. Mayor’s backlist that you can find.
