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Title: The Ragman's Memory by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0-446-60590-5 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1997 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Mandlebrot Of A Story From The Green Mountains
Comment: Call it bookman's snobbery, but it seems like far more novels are published in hardcover than deserve the honor. The cardboard bindings, generous type and colorful wrapping gives the feeling that what you hold in your hand is a work of lasting value. It's saying this is not just a paperback story whose pages age into brittleness as fast as you turn them.
Archer Mayor's series about Vermont detective Joe Gunther well deserve the hardcover treatment. His seventh book, "The Ragman's Memory" is a richly crafted tale that begins with the discovery of a hank of human hair in a bird's nest, and grows into a web of interrelated murders driven by greed, insanity and pride.
It's also a book whose plot should not be summarized further. Even reading the jacket copy would spoil the fun of watching Gunther -- competent and bland but surrounded by a great supporting cast -- start with a small girl's wonderment at the hank of human flesh she found, and follow that thread as it grows and turns tangled and convoluted. It's a mandlebrot of a story. The closer Gunther and the rest of the Brattleboro police force look, the more details appear, the list of suspects grow, and the implications and dangers of what they find increase.
Mayor tells his tale with carefully chosen words that economically reveals its details without padding. His writing is focused and sometimes intimate at unexpected moments, whether spotting a detective with an unusual method of passing the time at stakeouts, or creeping into the mind of a World War II veteran unable to leave the Battle of the Bulge.
Acting as the amphitheater for this morality play is Vermont, a state of rugged, sometimes heartbreaking beauty, mashed against the reality of industrial towns that have outlived their usefulness but which survive on sheer inertia. It's a landscape as compelling as Chandler's Los Angeles or Hillerman's New Mexico, and Mayor's skill renders the Green Mountain State with sympathy and beauty.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good, solid police procedural
Comment: It all begins when a young girl brings a bird's nest for Lt. Joe Gunther to look at. The nest has strands of human hair plaited throughout. Not too unusual however there are patches of scalp still attached to the hair which leads Gunther to believe there's been a homicide. Other seemingly unrelated deaths occur. Strange deaths such as a potential witness to the first homicide dying of rabies. Or a much-disliked older woman being strangled in her nursing-home bed. Are they all related, Gunther wonders, and if so, how.
I've enjoyed all of Mr. Mayor's Gunther novels and this was no exception. His plots are convoluted but they all tie together neatly at the end. His characters are very believeable and his ability to place you in snowy Vermont is exceptional. He'll keep you guessing until the end. In a market flooded with mediocre mysteries the Joe Gunther novels stand out. I'd recommend this one and any of the others too.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Master Artist With Words
Comment: All of Archer Mayor's books have a gripping story line. Although the stories are first class, the pictures drawn with words as the story unfolds are the best that I have ever encountered. The magnificent metaphors can create, in less than one sentence, images that may take other authors pages. Although each book is independent in and of itself, I enjoy reading the stories in sequence. There is a steady progression in character development and interpersonal relationships as we go from story to story.
If you are a mystery fan, I am sure that you will enjoy the entire series as much as I have. If you are a student taking a course in creative writing, I don't think that you will find a better word artist than Archer Mayor.
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Title: Fruits of the Poisonous Tree by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446403741 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Dark Root by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446403768 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Skeleton's Knee by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446400998 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Disposable Man by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446607681 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Marble Mask by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446610291 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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