Tucker Peak - (Joe Gunther Mysteries) by Archer Mayor (Paperback)

About the Book

As developers overseeing the expansion of the ski resort at Vermont's Tucker Peak clash with environmentalists protesting the project, the slope-side condo owners suffer a rash of burglaries. Sheriff's Lt. Joe Gunther soon realizes the most likely thief has vanished--leaving behind a dead girlfriend. Grappling with an increasingly violent game, Joe soon finds himself caught in a perilous town where truth may be the deadliest sport of all.

Book Synopsis

An overworked sheriff and a string of condo burglaries at a luxurious ski resort have Lt. Joe Gunther and the newly-minted Vermont Bureau of Investigation digging deep for clues. But it doesnt take long for Joe to find the most likely thief missingand his girlfriend dead. As the complications mount, from drug dealing to environmental terrorism to attempted murder, Joe and his team go undercover to infiltrate the closed society of a one-company town, populated by bored millionaires and supported by a small legion of resort employees, not all of whom are what they seem.

Review Quotes

"The 12th book in Mayor's series is the best yet [...] Often labeled a 'regional' writer, Mayor, with his intelligent plots, wit, relaxed style and understanding of human relationships, deserves wider recognition."

Publisher's Weekly

"Why do we like [Joe Gunther]? Because he pays attention to details; because he relates to people in the quiet, effective way that we only dream of doing; and because he cares about protecting his world of rural Vermont from the horrors that turn the rest of us into cynical mavericks. All these qualities are on display in this 12th episode in the series."

Booklist

About the Author

Archer Mayor is the author of the highly acclaimed Vermont-based series featuring detective Joe Gunther, which the Chicago Tribune describes as "the best police procedurals being written in America." He is a past winner of the New England Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction--the first time a writer of crime literature has been so honored. In 2011, Mayor's 22nd Joe Gunther novel, TAG MAN, earned a place on The New York Times bestseller list for hardback fiction.

Before turning his hand to fiction, Mayor wrote history books, the most notable of which, Southern Timberman: The Legacy of William Buchanan, concerned the lumber and oil business in Louisiana from the 1870s to the 1970s. This book was published in 1988 and very well received; it was republished as a trade paperback in 2009.

Archer Mayor is a death investigator for Vermont's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, a detective for the Windham County Sheriff's Office, the publisher of his own backlist, a travel writer for AAA, and he travels the Northeast giving speeches and conducting workshops. He has 25 years of experience as a volunteer firefighter/EMT. Mayor was brought up in the US, Canada and France and had been employed as a scholarly editor, a researcher for TIME-LIFE Books, a political advance-man, a theater photographer, a newspaper writer/editor, a lab technician for Paris-Match Magazine in Paris, France, and a medical illustrator. In addition to writing novels and occasional articles, Mayor gives talks and workshops all around the country, including the Bread Loaf Young Writers conference in Middlebury, Vermont, and the Colby College seminar on forensic sciences in Waterville, Maine.

Mayor's critically-acclaimed series of police novels feature Lt. Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, Vermont, police department. The books, which have been appearing about once a year since 1988, have been published in five languages (if you count British), and routinely gather high praise from such sources as The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New Yorker, and others, often appearing on their "ten best" yearly lists.

Whereas many writers base their books only on interviews and scholarly research, Mayor's novels are based on actual experience in the field. The result adds a depth, detail and veracity to his characters and their tribulations that has led The New York Times to call him "the boss man on procedures".