Fall Guy by Archer Mayor

First Sentence: Joe Gunther crested the hill overlooking a small cluster of flashing, multihued vehicles below.

Special Agent Joe Gunther, head of the VBI (Vermont Bureau of Investigation), and his team are confronted with a case that initially seems straightforward. An expensive car with New Hampshire plates, reported stolen by Lemuel Shaw, is found in Vermont near the scene of two burglaries. In the trunk is the body of the suspected burglar, Don Kalfus. Evidence suggests he was killed in New Hampshire. Also in the trunk are several stolen cell phones, one containing child porn, and another which belonged to a boy who disappeared years ago. The VBI team follows the clues as the body count continues to rise.

Rather than a prologue, Mayor begins with a description that is both dramatic and evocative. His literary style is always a pleasure to read--”…specialist teams delicately work around one another like dancers of a minuet…” The author is thorough in his description of the activity which occurs at a crime scene and explains how multi-jurisdictional teams can work together cooperatively and without grandstanding. There are a lot of acronyms used, but each is quickly explained.

Mayor has developed a cast of central characters that are always a pleasure to rejoin, especially as we’ve seen them grow and develop with the series. They are a cohesive unit, knowing how each works while trusting and supporting one another with occasional flashes of humor.

The investigative team runs through the details of the case and offer theories providing the realism one hopes for in a police procedural; they follow the clues rather than making an assumption of guilt and fitting the clues to that assumption. Willie, who has been with Joe and the VBI from the beginning, is the one, occasional, maverick among the group, sometimes taking someone else with him—Willy…“I want to tail ‘em.”… “Sniper-style,” Lester suggested neutrally…”Without authorization, without backup, and without pay, if I’m reading this right.” Willy’s enthusiasm was unaffected. “Yup. Sounds like fun, don’t it?”

Child kidnapping, sex trafficking, and kiddy porn are exceedingly difficult subjects. Mayor handles it with great sensitivity and understanding for the victims. In thinking about the child’s interview with social services, Joe had—"been caught by the metaphor of each victim becoming traumatically transformed into conjoined twins, one destined to lug around the corpse of the other until death.”

FALL GUY is a police procedural that begins as burglary and murder, develops to include at least two cold cases of missing children, a suspicious death, an abused child, spousal abuse, and a life-threatening situation no one could have predicted. Even then, it’s all topped off with a very unexpected case of, “but wait, there’s more.” Once again, Archer Mayor has come through with a first-rate read.

FALL GUY (PolProc-Joe Gunther-Vermont/New Hampshire-Contemp)
Archer Mayor – 33rd in series
Minotaur Books, Sept 2022, 304 pp.
Rating: VG+ / A