The Ragman's Memory

I've said this before but it's worth repeating: Mayor is a fine writer and I've enjoyed all his books from the first to the latest. If you like police mysteries you'll find he is a craftsman of the first order. If you just like a good story and a well crafted plot, you can't go wrong with Archer. But be advised: The first of his books you read won't be the last!

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.

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.

Archer Mayor's mystery The Ragman's Memory was a real page-turner for me. Set in the frozen, rural northland of Brattleboro, Vermont (not too different from Potsdam, New York, where I make my home), Mayor tells how Police Lt. Joe Gunther tracks down a series of seemingly-unrelated crimes, the first clue for which is a snatch of purple-dyed human hair plaited into a bird's nest. The landscape and setting are as much a character -- a clear physical reality and motive force -- in this book as are the persons. Gunther nicely balanced careful police work with brisk narrative drive. I recommend this book, especially for northern winter evenings spent reading.

Having read most of the Joe Gunther series I feel that this one is one of the best. They all give me the feeling that I am part of the story, are well written, and attention to detail is not spared. For those of us familar with the area [Brattleboro, Vermont] the descriptions of the streets, buildings and the Town in general is so accurate it it is like being there. Mr. Mayor through his writing, has the ability to impart not only the image but also the feeling of being there. When you drive down a street in Brattleboro after reading this story it is like you've already been there or lived the scene