Occam's Razor

Rating:
Summary: Another good Joe Gunther entry.
Review: A dead body is found on the railroad tracks, its head and hands crushed by the locomotive. A young prostitute is found murdered in her home in the poor section of town, her head almost severed from her body. Two seemingly unrelated crimes and yet a powerful Vermont legislator's name keeps popping up whereever Joe Gunther looks. And as Gunther and the Brattleboro police department dig further, more and more suspects and theories emerge. But who's the real killer? And how does this all tie to a toxic dumping scam.

Once again Mr. Mayor writes a good, solid small-town police procedural. The characters are all well drawn and they interest you. Mr. Mayor knows his procedure and it all rings true. I've remarked in past reviews of this series that perhaps Brattleboro is too small a venue for so many crimes and Mr. Mayor seems to agree. Joe Gunther will be joining the new Vermont Bureau of Investigation for his next novel. It should open up a great many more possibilities. Anyway, this is a fine book like most of the Joe Gunther novels and I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Occam's Razor
Review: A meticulously crafted story with no editorial glitches,(misspellings, improper verb tenses, erroneous factual imformation, etc.)that detract from the story line. As an avid mystery reader, mostly police procedurals, I am aware of many authors who either must have poor editoral staff or are in too much of a hurry to get their next character installment into the stores to be accurate. As a loyal Mayor fan, from Joe Gunther's first appearance, I find that Mayor's work is believable not only because his characters are realistic, but the situations he develops are in general not imaginary. Similar ones usually have been or are just cropping up in the news. The situations may be elaborated upon, simplified or altered for purposes of the story line, but they definitely constitute a slice of real life. Some may find this latest of Mayor's a bit slow and ponderous in places, but I savored and enjoyed the fine, descriptive writing of rural New England becoming set upon with urban problems. Gunter's realtionship with Gail is also very believable and maybe even instructive. Although, I enjoyed and savored Dark Root, I do think Occam's Razor is Mayor's best yet. PS. I'm not just writing this review because of the mention of my hometown, Occam's Razor is a darn good read.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: Even before I open it,I knew this book would be another winner. What a treat to see this talented writer finally begin to get the notice he so richly deserves. The three Cambrige (MA) bookstores I called were already sold out. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading this series, start with the first one and look forward to countless hours of enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Addition to a Fine Series
Review: For those interested in police procedural work and how small town law enforcement operates,along with the politics involved, there is no better series. Rich in geographical detail; I like to keep a roadmap of the North Eastern states beside me as I trace Joe Gunther's travels around the area, invetigating and running down clues,in this case strange killings linked to hazardous waste. This is the tenth entry in the series and each book builds upon it's predecessors. In order to fully understand Joe and Gail's relationship in this book, one should go back to "Fruits of the Poisonous Tree" and go on from there. Or better still, start at the beginning "Open Season" and read the whole series in order of publication.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read, Great Sense of Place
Review: In a former life (as an architectural historian, of all things), I spent a lot of time on the same mean streets of Southern New England as Joe Gunther (albeit with a clipboard and a camera instead of a badge and a gun). Mayor's books are really notable for their sense of place -- I can call up clear pictures of his over-grown millyards and sagging tenements every time I read one of his books.

Mayor gets the people right too. Even though his is a cop's-eye view, the villians are not simply generic "bad guys." They are individuals, with individual strengths, weakenesses and even talents.

Mayor's books are procedurals with lots of procedure (he's a real-life Vermont constable) and now and then I lose track of a pawn or two in the bureaucratic chess game just because there are so many of them. But overall, an incredibly solid and admirable series.

Rating:
Summary: Russo redux?
Review: The plot line of the book sounds suspiciously like the plot of Richard Russo's Straight Man. Just an observation.