In Archer Mayor’s intriguing new Vermont-based mystery, The Orphan’s Guilt, a straightforward traffic stop snowballs into a homicide investigation after Joe Gunther and his fellow investigators peel back layer upon layer of history and personal heartbreak to learn a decades-old hidden truth. John Rust is arrested for drunk driving by a Vermont state trooper. Looking to find mitigating … trooper. Looking to find mitigating circumstances, John’s lawyer hires private eye Sally Kravitz to look into the recent death of John’s younger brother, purportedly from a childhood brain injury years earlier. But what was the nature of that injury, and might its mechanism point more to murder than to natural causes? That debate brings in Joe Gunther and his team.
Gunther’s efforts quickly uncover an ancient tale of avarice, betrayal, and vengeance that swirled around the Rust boys growing up. Their parents and the people they consorted with–forgotten, relentless, but now jolted to action by this simple set of circumstances–emerge with a destructive passion. All while the presumably innocent John Rust mysteriously vanishes with no explanation.
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Life has not been kind to John Rust and the latest DWI stop is not going to help matters in The Orphan’s Guilt: A Joe Gunther Novel by Archer Mayor. The arrest brought his lawyer, Scott Jezek, into his latest case. While John Rust is looking at suspension of his driving privileges and jail time, the background of why it happened is important.
Hours earlier that same day before he was arrested, John’s brother, Peter died. He was twenty-eight, severely disabled, and in a near vegetative state at death. For more than ten years, John Rust had cared for his brother under difficult and complicated circumstances. Attorney Jezek is looking at that background to try and figure out a way to blunt the prosecutorial zeal of the state’s It is an election year and being tough on drunk driving seems to be his theme this election year as he tries to convince voters to support him. Jezek wants private investigator Sally Kravitz to look at all the footage of the DUI arrest and see if she sees anything they can use. She does.
Peter’s death also eventually comes to the attention of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation. That happens because Sally Kravitz unearths several things including the possibility that the death of Peter could be the final act in a homicide case that stretches back nearly thirty years. It may be nothing and easily explained or it could be murder. Joe Gunther and his team go to work to prove it one way or another. All cold cases are tough, but this is going to be very difficult.
The latest in a very long running series, The Orphan’s Guilt: A Joe Gunther Novel by Archer Mayor is another solidly good read. As always in each installment of this series, multiple mysteries and cases are at work. So too are the ongoing relationships at work and at home between the various characters. These reads are part mystery, part police procedural, and part drama and that mix varies in each book. The result is a consistently engaging and interesting series that is always well worth your time. So too is The Orphan’s Guilt.
The Orphan’s Guilt: A Joe Gunther Novel
Archer Mayor
https://archermayor.com/
Minotaur Books
http://www.minotaurbooks.com
September 2020
ISBN# 978-1-250-22414-9
Hardback (also available in audio and eBook formats)
288 Page
Material supplied by my childhood reading gateway, Audelia Branch of the Dallas Public Library System
Kevin R. Tipple ©2021
“The Orphan’s Guilt” drops readers into Vermont, famous for cows, trees, ice cream, and opinionated politicians. This book is part of a continuing series, but all characters are briefly introduced, and previous relationships fold easily into current scenarios. New readers can jump right in without any problem. There is plenty of friendly everyday interactions and banter to make characters likeable, personable and appealing. Readers get to know them almost as friends.
Joe Gunther of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation finds that what started as an unremarkable DUI stop, has ballooned into something very different. Mayor adds Rachel Reiling of “The Brattleboro Reformer” and Sally Kravitz, private problem-solver, to the mix of regular investigators. These are familiar characters, having played small roles in the past, but these are players from outside the “law enforcement clubhouse” so the mood is different, and they are not always governed by the rigid rules of “official” procedure. The details of the case are not as clear cut as it first seems, and a troubling picture gradually emerges. The Investigation uncovers past events that if true, point to a previous “accidental death” as actually being a homicide.
“The Orphan’s Guilt” is rich in complexity and moral challenges. The characters are tenacious and believable. This book is an excellent of Mayor’s exceptional storytelling skills. I received a review copy of “The Orphans Guilt” from Archer Mayor, St Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books. I recommend the entire series.
288 pages
5 stars
A very drunk John Rust is stopped one evening by a trooper who takes pity on him. John is very polite and when back at the station house agrees to the trooper’s questions. The cop is then called away on an emergency and John is left for four hours. His attorney Scott Jezek is contacted later and sets out to make a case for John’s dismissal of charges. He contacts friend and private investigator Sally Kravitz to look into John’s life and see if there are mitigating circumstances.
Well, for one his developmentally disabled twenty-eight year old brother Peter had just died earlier that day. John took meticulous care of Peter. When questions arise how Peter got that way, suspicions are aroused. When the midwife reports that Peter was completely normal at birth, Jezek reports to VBI Chief Joe Gunther that a murder has taken place.
The investigation begins. The father Daryl Hicks left the family when John was eighteen. John became Peter’s sole caretaker. The boys’ mother died some years earlier of a drug overdose. Daryl becomes the prime suspect in Peter’s murder. But, where is he?
This book details the intricate search for the truth about Peter’s injury. There are many, many people to interview. Apparently not all was normal happy families with John and Peter’s parents.
Aside from the drugs mom was involved with, there were several heists and other illegal doings. And where did John get the money for Peter’s care?
The whole gang, including Willy, Sam, Beverly and the others get involved in the search for the killer. Much is happening in this book. There are several lines of inquiry to follow, and follow them Joe’s team does. More murders occur. When Sally and reporter Rachel Reiling join Joe’s team, the action picks up frantically.
This book is excellent. Mr. Mayor’s writing is wonderful. His descriptions are vivid and colorful. The dialogue is perfect – especially Willy. He’s a treat! I like Joe and Beverly’s relationship. It is so easygoing. I have read all of Joe Gunther’s adventures now and I don’t know where Mr. Mayor keeps getting his great ideas for stories. I avidly await the next in this series!
I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for forwarding to me a copy of this remarkable book for me to read, enjoy and review.