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Joe Gunther #24
Three Can Keep a Secret (Joe Gunther Mysteries
Archer Mayor s "New York Times" bestselling Joe Gunther series returns with a complex case involving two corpses, one escaped mental patient, and a long-held secret that binds them together.
Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. Ben Franklin
Joe Gunther and his team the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI) are usually called in on major cases by local Vermont enforcement whenever they need expertise and backup. But after the state is devastated by Hurricane Irene, the police from one end of the state are taxed to their limits, leaving Joe Gunther involved in an odd, seemingly unrelated series of cases. In the wake of the hurricane, a seventeen-year-old gravesite is exposed, revealing a coffin that had been filled with rocks instead of the expected remains.
At the same time, an old retired state politician turns up dead at his high-end nursing home, in circumstances that leave investigators unsure that he wasn t murdered. And a patient who calls herself the Governor has walked away from a state mental facility during the post-hurricane flood. It turns out she was indeed once Governor for a Day, over forty years ago, and she might have also been falsely committed and drugged to keep her from revealing something she saw all those years ago. Amid the turmoil and the disaster relief, it s up to Joe Gunther and his team to learn what really happened with the two corpses one missing and what secret the Governor might have still locked in her brain that links them all.
Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. Ben Franklin
Joe Gunther and his team the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI) are usually called in on major cases by local Vermont enforcement whenever they need expertise and backup. But after the state is devastated by Hurricane Irene, the police from one end of the state are taxed to their limits, leaving Joe Gunther involved in an odd, seemingly unrelated series of cases. In the wake of the hurricane, a seventeen-year-old gravesite is exposed, revealing a coffin that had been filled with rocks instead of the expected remains.
At the same time, an old retired state politician turns up dead at his high-end nursing home, in circumstances that leave investigators unsure that he wasn t murdered. And a patient who calls herself the Governor has walked away from a state mental facility during the post-hurricane flood. It turns out she was indeed once Governor for a Day, over forty years ago, and she might have also been falsely committed and drugged to keep her from revealing something she saw all those years ago. Amid the turmoil and the disaster relief, it s up to Joe Gunther and his team to learn what really happened with the two corpses one missing and what secret the Governor might have still locked in her brain that links them all.
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First published October 1, 2013
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August 26, 2016
The twenty-fourth entry in Archer Mayor's series featuring Joe Gunther of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation is among the best in the series.
When Hurricane Irene blows through Vermont, it does millions of dollars worth of damage and causes enormous headaches for virtually all of the series' familiar cast of characters. Gunther's former love interest, Gail Zigman, is now the state's governor and has to deal with the mess and the political fallout that results. Gunther and his team must deal with a number of more specific issues.
As an example, the Vermont State Hospital is flooded and an elderly mental patient who has been confined there for years manages to escape. The woman, Carolyn Barber, is known as "The Governor" because forty years earlier, she was indeed the state's governor for a day as the result of a PR stunt that didn't turn out so well. Gunther and his team go looking for the woman but are unable to find any trace of her, save for a slipper that she lost while making her escape.
Meanwhile, the torrential rains have torn through a cemetery, exposing several coffins, one of which breaks open. The deceased who had been laid to rest in the coffin years earlier, turns out to be a pile of rocks, leaving Gunther's team to figure out what in the hell ever happened to the guy who was supposed to be in the coffin.
As if those weren't problems enough, a former state politician suddenly turns up dead at his very expensive retirement/nursing home. The doctor on the scene attributes the death to natural causes, but when Gunther learns that the former pol was connected to the missing "Governor for a Day," the coincidence seems just too great and he orders an autopsy and a full investigation.
From that point, the story proceeds along two tracks as the acerbic Willy Kunkle investigates the case of the missing body, which will turn out to have important ramifications for Willy himself. Meanwhile, the rest of the team tackles the case of the missing "Governor" and the death of the former politician. All in all, it's an interesting and entertaining read. By this point, for those who have followed this series for years, any new entry is like renewing old friendships and here, as is almost always the case, Archer Mayor never disappoints.
When Hurricane Irene blows through Vermont, it does millions of dollars worth of damage and causes enormous headaches for virtually all of the series' familiar cast of characters. Gunther's former love interest, Gail Zigman, is now the state's governor and has to deal with the mess and the political fallout that results. Gunther and his team must deal with a number of more specific issues.
As an example, the Vermont State Hospital is flooded and an elderly mental patient who has been confined there for years manages to escape. The woman, Carolyn Barber, is known as "The Governor" because forty years earlier, she was indeed the state's governor for a day as the result of a PR stunt that didn't turn out so well. Gunther and his team go looking for the woman but are unable to find any trace of her, save for a slipper that she lost while making her escape.
Meanwhile, the torrential rains have torn through a cemetery, exposing several coffins, one of which breaks open. The deceased who had been laid to rest in the coffin years earlier, turns out to be a pile of rocks, leaving Gunther's team to figure out what in the hell ever happened to the guy who was supposed to be in the coffin.
As if those weren't problems enough, a former state politician suddenly turns up dead at his very expensive retirement/nursing home. The doctor on the scene attributes the death to natural causes, but when Gunther learns that the former pol was connected to the missing "Governor for a Day," the coincidence seems just too great and he orders an autopsy and a full investigation.
From that point, the story proceeds along two tracks as the acerbic Willy Kunkle investigates the case of the missing body, which will turn out to have important ramifications for Willy himself. Meanwhile, the rest of the team tackles the case of the missing "Governor" and the death of the former politician. All in all, it's an interesting and entertaining read. By this point, for those who have followed this series for years, any new entry is like renewing old friendships and here, as is almost always the case, Archer Mayor never disappoints.
September 29, 2021
Mayor does it again. This book takes place right after Irene, the hurricane that surprised everyone by turning back to land. It destroyed towns in Vermont. Flooded roads. Took down covered bridges. Made roads impassable. Cut off much communication. Mayor uses it as a backdrop and vehicle to start his story. As always, he maintains a great balance between mystery and character developing both. Kept me interested to the end. If you read the series, you'll find this ends (SPOILER ALERT) in a more upbeat fashion. Whew. I've been waiting for this. If you've been keeping up with the series, don't miss this one. If you've never read Archer Mayor you'll enjoy it but I suggest reading some of the newer ones first. This one is good but if you have the background on the characters it will be better.
February 21, 2019
I really enjoy the Joe Gunther series, but this is a lesser Mayor effort. The mysteries aren't that compelling and when Joe does finally figure them out, the ending just fizzles with one of the murderers still loose. Recommended only to true Gunther fans.
November 22, 2021
"Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead."
----------Benjamin Franklin
That adage makes a catchy title, albeit not an especially pertinent one.
Three Can Keep a Secret is the twenty-fourth volume in Archer Mayor's series about Joe Gunther and his fellow Vermont law officers. Gunther is now the number two person in the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, a group formed to assist other Vermont police agencies when requested.
Hurricane Irene strikes Vermont, wreaking tremendous damage. The National Guard is called out and all police agencies are involved in helping people survive the storm. The always bad-tempered Willy Kunkle, who serves in the VBI, helps rescue some escaping criminals from a flood. Other members of the VBI are trying to find Carolyn Barber, an elderly long-term patient at a psychiatric institution, who has wandered off and may have drowned. At Barber's request, the people who work at that facility have always referred to her as "Governor"; although few are aware of this, many years earlier Barber had indeed been involved in a publicity stunt in which she had been named as the honorary governor of the state for one day.
Flood waters also tear apart graveyards, and one smashed coffin is found to contain only stones. The coffin and its contents had been buried for a long time, but the VBI is able to locate relatives of the man who was supposed to have been buried in that coffin.
The police also find the name of a man, once an influential Vermont politician, who had years before had some connection to Barber. On the day the VBI plans to see him, he is found dead in his bed in an upscale retirement home. It appears that the man had died of natural causes, but Gunther thinks that the coincidence calls for further investigation. Later there are other suspicious deaths of people who had some connection to Barber.
The Governor of Vermont is Gail Zigmond, the one-time girlfriend of Joe Gunther. Political machinations arise that involve folks who had some relationship to the dead former politician; this may endanger Zigmond's administration.
This is, of course, a mystery novel, with cruel criminals and nefarious schemes. It is also, to an unusual degree, a novel about people who suffer, people who overcome difficulties, who change and grow. Gunther in particular has a major change in his life.
Willy Kunkle, once solitary and irascible, has changed in other ways. He is now married (to another important member of the VBI), and they have a baby daughter. It is Kunkle who unravels the mystery of the coffin filled with stones, and helps make three severely damaged lives begin to heel. Kunkle's wife Sam muses:
Willy was deemed unapproachable by most people, but to her, he wasn't that complicated. This was a smart man with a big heart that had been stepped on enough to make him angry, suspicious, and in pain. That's how she saw it, all the babble about PTSD and the rest notwithstanding. She'd seen him with their daughter and had been won over by him herself
Governor Gail Zigmond, once a pillar of righteousness, has now become more of a politician. She denies this, probably even to herself. The following is part of a conversation with her Chief of Staff:
Gail nodded. This, in part, was why she had Rob Perkins as her CoS, as the jargon had it. He knew everyone. "Can you get to him?" she asked.
"As in..." He left the implication dangling.
She smiled without humor. "No. I don't do underhanded, as you very well know."
But later, in a conversation with someone else, Zigmond requests information to which she knows she should not have access:
"Have you thought through what I think you're about to ask?" he asked her.
"You getting technical on me?" she shot back.
"I'm remembering my oath of office," he said carefully.
But not carefully enough.
"Meaning I've forgotten mine?" she asked sharply.
One flaw in this series is that people do change but don't seem to age at anything close to a realistic rate. This doesn't matter in any one volume in the series, but it does have a cumulative effect.
The end of the book is unusual, in that a major development is left unfinished. And yet, this in no way feels like an unresolved cliffhanger. The very end of the story is morally repugnant - and emotionally satisfying.
This is, I think, one of the best books in a fine series, succeeding both as a mystery and as a moving portrait of police officers and the people with whom they interact.
----------Benjamin Franklin
That adage makes a catchy title, albeit not an especially pertinent one.
Three Can Keep a Secret is the twenty-fourth volume in Archer Mayor's series about Joe Gunther and his fellow Vermont law officers. Gunther is now the number two person in the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, a group formed to assist other Vermont police agencies when requested.
Hurricane Irene strikes Vermont, wreaking tremendous damage. The National Guard is called out and all police agencies are involved in helping people survive the storm. The always bad-tempered Willy Kunkle, who serves in the VBI, helps rescue some escaping criminals from a flood. Other members of the VBI are trying to find Carolyn Barber, an elderly long-term patient at a psychiatric institution, who has wandered off and may have drowned. At Barber's request, the people who work at that facility have always referred to her as "Governor"; although few are aware of this, many years earlier Barber had indeed been involved in a publicity stunt in which she had been named as the honorary governor of the state for one day.
Flood waters also tear apart graveyards, and one smashed coffin is found to contain only stones. The coffin and its contents had been buried for a long time, but the VBI is able to locate relatives of the man who was supposed to have been buried in that coffin.
The police also find the name of a man, once an influential Vermont politician, who had years before had some connection to Barber. On the day the VBI plans to see him, he is found dead in his bed in an upscale retirement home. It appears that the man had died of natural causes, but Gunther thinks that the coincidence calls for further investigation. Later there are other suspicious deaths of people who had some connection to Barber.
The Governor of Vermont is Gail Zigmond, the one-time girlfriend of Joe Gunther. Political machinations arise that involve folks who had some relationship to the dead former politician; this may endanger Zigmond's administration.
This is, of course, a mystery novel, with cruel criminals and nefarious schemes. It is also, to an unusual degree, a novel about people who suffer, people who overcome difficulties, who change and grow. Gunther in particular has a major change in his life.
Willy Kunkle, once solitary and irascible, has changed in other ways. He is now married (to another important member of the VBI), and they have a baby daughter. It is Kunkle who unravels the mystery of the coffin filled with stones, and helps make three severely damaged lives begin to heel. Kunkle's wife Sam muses:
Willy was deemed unapproachable by most people, but to her, he wasn't that complicated. This was a smart man with a big heart that had been stepped on enough to make him angry, suspicious, and in pain. That's how she saw it, all the babble about PTSD and the rest notwithstanding. She'd seen him with their daughter and had been won over by him herself
Governor Gail Zigmond, once a pillar of righteousness, has now become more of a politician. She denies this, probably even to herself. The following is part of a conversation with her Chief of Staff:
Gail nodded. This, in part, was why she had Rob Perkins as her CoS, as the jargon had it. He knew everyone. "Can you get to him?" she asked.
"As in..." He left the implication dangling.
She smiled without humor. "No. I don't do underhanded, as you very well know."
But later, in a conversation with someone else, Zigmond requests information to which she knows she should not have access:
"Have you thought through what I think you're about to ask?" he asked her.
"You getting technical on me?" she shot back.
"I'm remembering my oath of office," he said carefully.
But not carefully enough.
"Meaning I've forgotten mine?" she asked sharply.
One flaw in this series is that people do change but don't seem to age at anything close to a realistic rate. This doesn't matter in any one volume in the series, but it does have a cumulative effect.
The end of the book is unusual, in that a major development is left unfinished. And yet, this in no way feels like an unresolved cliffhanger. The very end of the story is morally repugnant - and emotionally satisfying.
This is, I think, one of the best books in a fine series, succeeding both as a mystery and as a moving portrait of police officers and the people with whom they interact.
September 7, 2016
When Hurricane Irene slammed Vermont, it did more damage than the usual flooding, severely damaged buildings, electricity outages, and destroying roads and bridges. It opened up decades of mysteries.
As Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation, as well as police forces from throughout the state, try to help the storm victims, they are faced with some unanticipated situations. The flood raised coffins from some cemeteries. One of them got smashed and spilled out its contents: a bunch of rocks. The electrical failure in an old institution housing mentally ill people enabled one of the long-time residents, a woman called the Governor, to escape. All that was found was a shoe and a footprint.
Soon thereafter the body of a long-time state politician was found in his bed at his expensive nursing home. The doctor ruled the death to be from natural causes, but Joe has his doubts. Other deaths follow, all seemingly connected after an investigation.
Joe and his team begin to question the history of the missing patient and why she had been institutionalized for so many decades. They turn up a lot of history that some people would kill to keep hidden.
Archer Mayor paints a picture of Vermont, its scenery, structure, politics, and people. People who followed the 2016 primary election in the US would not be surprised to read that the residents are politically populist. Mayor explains why. He also acknowledges it’s most famous product: Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream.
The characters are well drawn and realistic. Each has his or her own, consistent personality. There are references to incidents in previous books but having read them are not necessary to fully appreciating this one. Most could have been omitted without any loss. The book is a fast read and the ending could easily lead to a sequel.
Interesting observation: “Joe awkwardly shifted his cell phone against his cheek and ear to hear more clearly. He’d once taken the ergonomics of old-fashioned phones for granted. Never again.”
As Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation, as well as police forces from throughout the state, try to help the storm victims, they are faced with some unanticipated situations. The flood raised coffins from some cemeteries. One of them got smashed and spilled out its contents: a bunch of rocks. The electrical failure in an old institution housing mentally ill people enabled one of the long-time residents, a woman called the Governor, to escape. All that was found was a shoe and a footprint.
Soon thereafter the body of a long-time state politician was found in his bed at his expensive nursing home. The doctor ruled the death to be from natural causes, but Joe has his doubts. Other deaths follow, all seemingly connected after an investigation.
Joe and his team begin to question the history of the missing patient and why she had been institutionalized for so many decades. They turn up a lot of history that some people would kill to keep hidden.
Archer Mayor paints a picture of Vermont, its scenery, structure, politics, and people. People who followed the 2016 primary election in the US would not be surprised to read that the residents are politically populist. Mayor explains why. He also acknowledges it’s most famous product: Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream.
The characters are well drawn and realistic. Each has his or her own, consistent personality. There are references to incidents in previous books but having read them are not necessary to fully appreciating this one. Most could have been omitted without any loss. The book is a fast read and the ending could easily lead to a sequel.
Interesting observation: “Joe awkwardly shifted his cell phone against his cheek and ear to hear more clearly. He’d once taken the ergonomics of old-fashioned phones for granted. Never again.”
December 13, 2013
Joe Gunther's twenty-fourth outing involves a missing body, a missing person, the murder of an elderly man in a nursing home, some historically lousy behavior by one-time legislators, and a political plot aimed at the governor in the aftermath of a major flood disaster. In lesser hands, the challenge of weaving all those elements into a coherent whole would be daunting, but Mayor pulls it off with his customary ease. Although one of the cases is a stand alone, the others have some connections among them. As a bonus, Joe gets to rediscover a relationship and Willy gets to perform a good deed. The local color is, as ever, well done.
October 28, 2023
The background for the two cases featured in this new Joe Gunther is Hurricane Irene.
A flooded creek exposes several coffins in a rural graveyard, one of which cracks open to reveal that it contains, not a body but a bunch of rocks. Tracking down the mystery of the missing body becomes Willy Kunkle's job.
The storm causes flooding and power outages at the Vermont mental hospital, and in the confusion and darkness, a long-term resident, a woman who calls herself "The Governor" wanders away from the facility. The search for the missing woman reveals that she has a past fatally intertwined with some of the state's old guard movers and shakers.
Good news for people like Maggee who like a bit of romance in the mix — it looks like Joe and pathologist, Dr. Beverly Hillstrom are — at last — taking their cordial professional relationship to a new level.
October 28, 2023 (almost ten years later): I just finished rereading this book for a second time — this time aloud to Maggee and Lutrecia. Lutrecia didn't like the ending, but with Maggie and I both weighing in with 4 star ratings, the original rating stands.
This was book #42 on our 2023 Read-alouds With Lutrecia List and book #49 on our own 2023 Read-alouds List.
A flooded creek exposes several coffins in a rural graveyard, one of which cracks open to reveal that it contains, not a body but a bunch of rocks. Tracking down the mystery of the missing body becomes Willy Kunkle's job.
The storm causes flooding and power outages at the Vermont mental hospital, and in the confusion and darkness, a long-term resident, a woman who calls herself "The Governor" wanders away from the facility. The search for the missing woman reveals that she has a past fatally intertwined with some of the state's old guard movers and shakers.
Good news for people like Maggee who like a bit of romance in the mix — it looks like Joe and pathologist, Dr. Beverly Hillstrom are — at last — taking their cordial professional relationship to a new level.
October 28, 2023 (almost ten years later): I just finished rereading this book for a second time — this time aloud to Maggee and Lutrecia. Lutrecia didn't like the ending, but with Maggie and I both weighing in with 4 star ratings, the original rating stands.
This was book #42 on our 2023 Read-alouds With Lutrecia List and book #49 on our own 2023 Read-alouds List.
December 13, 2013
Loved it! As usual!
October 6, 2016
Investigator Joe Gunther has his hands full in Vermont following a hurricane. A mental patient holds the clue that ties several seemingly unrelated cases together.
November 17, 2017
Joe and his crew investigate several murders during the time in which Hurricane Irene is laying siege to Vermont. Some great insight into various series characters in this one, especially Joe.
August 30, 2019
Two very satisfying conclusions to extremely different stories. Mr. Mayor is a master at this type of tale.
September 11, 2019
I listened to this audiobook. I found this book to be a big disappointment. It is not the first Joe Gunther book I have read, but I found this story a bit hard to swallow. Hurricane Irene has battered the East Coast and Vermont is left with massive flooding. An old woman committed to the state hospital goes missing when the doors at the facility malfunction in the storm. She calls herself The Governor and everyone thinks she is harmlessly demented. The storm also unearths some coffins at a cemetery and one is found to be filled with rocks. A former politician is found dead at his upscale nursing home. It appears to be natural causes, but for no real reason that I could discern, Joe wants to spend a bunch of time examining the scene like a crime scene. Like he doesn't have enough on his plate with the resources of law enforcement stretched thin the flooding. Meanwhile the real governor is dealing with underhanded politics involving recovery from the flooding. First of all it seems ridiculous the leaps of logic that leads Joe to speculate about the lost old woman and the dead politician. Secondly the storm is an immediate concern, yet more than one member of the team drops everything to find out about the rocks in the coffin. It seems to me they could back burner that in light of the state of emergency. The political angle was not credible. A waste of a time to listen to this.
March 12, 2014
This is a series I have been following faithfully for many years and it rarely disappoints. This latest is one of Mayor's best, in my opinion. Not only are the cases intriguing and the plotting masterfully accomplished, but the description of Vermont during and after Hurricane Irene is superb. Mayor is a Vermont State Medical Examiner as well as an EMS volunteer and has held various state offices so his description of Vermont government and politics is always good. But this one is truly "you are there" writing. I found myself tense with apprehension as I drove through the storm with the cops during the hurricane, and filled with nausea and claustrophobia as I donned a Hazmat suit and went into the flooded tunnels later on. Mayor doesn't overdo it, but you are constantly aware of the devastation Joe Gunter and his team are encountering as they traverse the state during their investigations.
I recommend starting at the beginning of this series as the characters grow and transform over the years. I think this one would be very good on its own, but nuances of the main characters and how they got where they are would be missed.
I recommend starting at the beginning of this series as the characters grow and transform over the years. I think this one would be very good on its own, but nuances of the main characters and how they got where they are would be missed.
August 15, 2014
That was fun. I'm not gonna lie, I had a good time reading THREE CAN KEEP A SECRET even if I felt confused by the proliferation of characters. It's my own fault really, when I got the ARC, I had no idea it was the 24th novel of a series and it shows. The characters are a well-oiled team, there is a lot of people involved and if I knew who all of them were in advanced I would've probably liked it even better.
THREE CAN KEEP A SECRET is a good example of what it is a long-running series can offer. The content is original and fun, and the structure is so well-defined and predictable that it reads super smoothly without having great peaks of intensity. It's a well controlled ride and a well-told mystery. I wouldn't say it convinced me to get into the Joe Gunther bandwagon, but it was a fun read.
THREE CAN KEEP A SECRET is a good example of what it is a long-running series can offer. The content is original and fun, and the structure is so well-defined and predictable that it reads super smoothly without having great peaks of intensity. It's a well controlled ride and a well-told mystery. I wouldn't say it convinced me to get into the Joe Gunther bandwagon, but it was a fun read.
January 18, 2017
(3) I saw a review of this by another Goodreads member a while ago and realized here was a Joe Gunther book I had missed. What a great, comfortable read. After a mildly slow start, this story proceeds at usual Gunther pace. We have all the regular sidekicks present, Sammie, Lester and a really nice role in this one for Willy. The main plot is nicely blended with two or three subplots and the VBI is there doing its thing the way they do. Joe even has some love interest in this one adding a little spice to the proceedings. Easy to read, a nice enjoyable ride.
December 26, 2017
I always enjoy Mayor's novels, and this one was one of his best. Imaginative plot twists in this well paced book have Joe Gunther and his team of characters digging deep into Vermont's political arena, and into a separate, decades old mystery brought to light in the wake of Hurricane Irene.
A missing elderly patient with a disturbing secret, and the washing up of a decades old coffin full of rocks, keeps Joe's team hopping, and provides plenty of intrigue, and a very satisfying read for fans of crime fiction, police procedurals and mystery.
A missing elderly patient with a disturbing secret, and the washing up of a decades old coffin full of rocks, keeps Joe's team hopping, and provides plenty of intrigue, and a very satisfying read for fans of crime fiction, police procedurals and mystery.
August 24, 2018
All of Archer Mayor's Joe Gunther series are good, but I think this is the best of all the ones I have read. (I have read at least 24 of them.) there are basically two stories, one is that a huricane named Irene has hit and wiped out most of Virginia, and the second because of the hurricane an old lady known as the govenor has been able to walk away from the state mental facility. Turns out that she was the govenor of Vermont, for one day as the governor of the day. The story of how she ended up in the facility more than forty years earlier forms the basis of the other part of the story.
May 29, 2014
This newest in the Joe Gunther series opens with the devastation in the author’s native Vermont which accompanied Hurricane Irene in the northeast US a few years back. One of the scenes to which Joe and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation squad are called is a small cemetery where several coffins at a 17-year-old gravesite were unearthed by the force of water, one of which was discovered to contain nothing but rocks, with no sign of any body ever having inhabited it. The cops believe it “might mean somebody faked his own death; might mean something more complicated.” This plot line unearths, as well, the first of the secrets hinted at by the title (from Ben Franklin’s well-known “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”).
But some very corporeal bodies turn up soon after, not the victims of the storm, but from unclear circumstances, the causes of death undetermined but appearing not to be natural, in addition to a missing patient from a state mental facility in Waterbury which had been flooded, the latter being an elderly woman who called herself The Governor. In an unlikely coincidence, all of these people are found to be connected. All of which leads to more secrets waiting to be uncovered.
Joe and the members of his team are, as always, wonderfully well-drawn, particularly Sammie Martens and Willy Kunkle, now the parents of a baby girl - - Willy, a former sniper in the military whose “arm had been destroyed by a bullet years ago, taken in the line of duty,” learning to live with discomfort, physical and psychic, “as a recovering alcoholic with a crippled left arm and an attitude problem. The tale spins out in clever plotlines, along with references to “the flooding and its impact and implications [not the least of which are political in nature]. There was little else being discussed anywhere in the state, and probably wouldn’t be for some time.” As one whose life was impacted greatly by Superstorm Sandy in late 2012, I could relate very well to that statement.
Not a page-turner in the usual sense of the word, the novel proceeds at an appropriate pace for a police procedural, with a denouement which was totally unexpected by this reader, and what I felt was a wonderfully wrought ending. Another solid entry in the series, and one which is recommended.
But some very corporeal bodies turn up soon after, not the victims of the storm, but from unclear circumstances, the causes of death undetermined but appearing not to be natural, in addition to a missing patient from a state mental facility in Waterbury which had been flooded, the latter being an elderly woman who called herself The Governor. In an unlikely coincidence, all of these people are found to be connected. All of which leads to more secrets waiting to be uncovered.
Joe and the members of his team are, as always, wonderfully well-drawn, particularly Sammie Martens and Willy Kunkle, now the parents of a baby girl - - Willy, a former sniper in the military whose “arm had been destroyed by a bullet years ago, taken in the line of duty,” learning to live with discomfort, physical and psychic, “as a recovering alcoholic with a crippled left arm and an attitude problem. The tale spins out in clever plotlines, along with references to “the flooding and its impact and implications [not the least of which are political in nature]. There was little else being discussed anywhere in the state, and probably wouldn’t be for some time.” As one whose life was impacted greatly by Superstorm Sandy in late 2012, I could relate very well to that statement.
Not a page-turner in the usual sense of the word, the novel proceeds at an appropriate pace for a police procedural, with a denouement which was totally unexpected by this reader, and what I felt was a wonderfully wrought ending. Another solid entry in the series, and one which is recommended.
December 24, 2013
Tropical storm Irene is bearing down on Vermont as Three Can Keep a Secret: A Joe Gunter Novel opens. For Joe Gunther and his team from the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI) the storm means all hands on deck for anything and everything and that include them. It is only after the storm is over and the residents begin to recover that the teams’ investigative skills are put to work.
In one case a very long term patient known as “The Governor” who was housed at a mental health facility has apparently walked away from the place. In another a retired political bigwig who had ties “The Governor” has suddenly died. Not entirely unexpectedly as he had health issues, but the timing is a little strange. And then there is the uncovered coffin at a graveyard. A coffin that, while it does not contain a body, is completely filled with rocks.
As the residents struggle to recover despite the chaos and destruction caused by widespread damaging floods, Joe Gunther and his team move from lifesaving to investigating the various situations. Cases with no easy answers and in at least one case more deaths to come.
The latest in this long running series is another solidly good one. While billed as a “Joe Gunther Novel” as has been the case in recent books the read is just as much about the team as Joe Gunther. While some relationships between various long running characters are evolving, no new real ground is unearthed here in the 24rth book of the series. The primary focus, once one gets past the storm, is the various mysteries at work here in the complicated and very good book.
Three Can Keep A Secret: A Joe Gunther Novel
Archer Mayor
http://www.archermayor.com
Minotaur Books
http://www.minotaurbooks.com
October 2013
ISBN# 978-1-250-02613-2
Hardback
336 Pages
$25.99
My supreme thanks to Lesa Holstine who provided the ARC after I was lucky enough to win it during a recent contest.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
In one case a very long term patient known as “The Governor” who was housed at a mental health facility has apparently walked away from the place. In another a retired political bigwig who had ties “The Governor” has suddenly died. Not entirely unexpectedly as he had health issues, but the timing is a little strange. And then there is the uncovered coffin at a graveyard. A coffin that, while it does not contain a body, is completely filled with rocks.
As the residents struggle to recover despite the chaos and destruction caused by widespread damaging floods, Joe Gunther and his team move from lifesaving to investigating the various situations. Cases with no easy answers and in at least one case more deaths to come.
The latest in this long running series is another solidly good one. While billed as a “Joe Gunther Novel” as has been the case in recent books the read is just as much about the team as Joe Gunther. While some relationships between various long running characters are evolving, no new real ground is unearthed here in the 24rth book of the series. The primary focus, once one gets past the storm, is the various mysteries at work here in the complicated and very good book.
Three Can Keep A Secret: A Joe Gunther Novel
Archer Mayor
http://www.archermayor.com
Minotaur Books
http://www.minotaurbooks.com
October 2013
ISBN# 978-1-250-02613-2
Hardback
336 Pages
$25.99
My supreme thanks to Lesa Holstine who provided the ARC after I was lucky enough to win it during a recent contest.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
October 6, 2013
The book had me hooked from the first page. The author does a great job setting the scene with Hurricane Irene baring down on the State of Vermont. The book is newest on the Joe Gunther series. I have not read any of the others yet but after reading this one I’m going to have to read the others. The book works as a stand-a-lone, I did not feel like I was missing any important information. I loved the major characters and would love to know more of their backstory which I assume would be in the earlier books. The author also does a great job showing the ups and downs of politics in a small state as well as the foolishness of some political decisions, and of course, political corruption. All of that was included with a hurricane, a missing mental patient, a coffin missing its body, and a couple of suspicious deaths. No wonder I couldn’t put the book down.
The book begins as people all over Vermont are preparing for Hurricane Irene. During the hurricane an old grave is exposed with a coffin full of rocks instead of a body. As mental patients in a hospital are being moved to a higher floor because of flooding one of them wonders off. After the storm passes, Joe Gunther and his team begin investigating both cases. The missing mental patient was fifty years earlier “Governor for a Day.” As Joe investigates her background to learn more about her and where she might go he finds more questions than answers. His investigation leads him to a retired state politician who mysteriously dies before the investigators can question him. Two additional mysterious deaths follow. Joe realizes that he must solve the mystery of the woman’s past in order to find her and the reason behind the murders.
Disclosure: I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.
The book begins as people all over Vermont are preparing for Hurricane Irene. During the hurricane an old grave is exposed with a coffin full of rocks instead of a body. As mental patients in a hospital are being moved to a higher floor because of flooding one of them wonders off. After the storm passes, Joe Gunther and his team begin investigating both cases. The missing mental patient was fifty years earlier “Governor for a Day.” As Joe investigates her background to learn more about her and where she might go he finds more questions than answers. His investigation leads him to a retired state politician who mysteriously dies before the investigators can question him. Two additional mysterious deaths follow. Joe realizes that he must solve the mystery of the woman’s past in order to find her and the reason behind the murders.
Disclosure: I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.
March 18, 2014
During our two Snow Days last week, I tore through this Vermont-based police procedural mystery.
I've been reading Archer Mayor's work since he first published "Open Season" in 1988. I actually used to bump into him or attended his signings so often, he would autograph copies of his books with very humorous, personalized inscriptions.
This is his 24th novel in the Joe Gunther series. Gunther is a no nonsense, old school Vermonter who now heads the fictional Vermont Bureau of Investigation. The novel takes place in the wake of Hurricane Irene, a storm that caused us some damage (though not as much as the May Flooding did to us that year). The Hurricane exposes two decades old secrets in the state which wind their way throughout the novel. I was very pleased that I was kept guessing until the very end.
I really loved this book. Some of it might be my familiarity with the locales. I also know many people with the same last names as many of the characters...even some atypical Vermont names....the Governor is named Zigman....I know a Zigman! One of the detectives is named Spinney....I work with a woman whose maiden name is Spinney...I even knew a Kunkle at one point!
It's interesting to me to note how the longevity of the series has necessitated some changes. Gunther's age and military history is more muted than it was when the series started 25 years ago. There is less of a tying him down to specifics. When I started reading the series, I always pictured Joe as my grandfather...then later I imagined him as Mayor himself....now, I sometimes picture myself as the hero....
I'm also really excited for the next chapter in the saga...
I've been reading Archer Mayor's work since he first published "Open Season" in 1988. I actually used to bump into him or attended his signings so often, he would autograph copies of his books with very humorous, personalized inscriptions.
This is his 24th novel in the Joe Gunther series. Gunther is a no nonsense, old school Vermonter who now heads the fictional Vermont Bureau of Investigation. The novel takes place in the wake of Hurricane Irene, a storm that caused us some damage (though not as much as the May Flooding did to us that year). The Hurricane exposes two decades old secrets in the state which wind their way throughout the novel. I was very pleased that I was kept guessing until the very end.
I really loved this book. Some of it might be my familiarity with the locales. I also know many people with the same last names as many of the characters...even some atypical Vermont names....the Governor is named Zigman....I know a Zigman! One of the detectives is named Spinney....I work with a woman whose maiden name is Spinney...I even knew a Kunkle at one point!
It's interesting to me to note how the longevity of the series has necessitated some changes. Gunther's age and military history is more muted than it was when the series started 25 years ago. There is less of a tying him down to specifics. When I started reading the series, I always pictured Joe as my grandfather...then later I imagined him as Mayor himself....now, I sometimes picture myself as the hero....
I'm also really excited for the next chapter in the saga...
October 1, 2015
Archer Mayor never lets me down.
Every book in the Joe Gunther series is a great read with one of the most accurate and realistic portrayals of police work. In this entry, Joe’s team is investigating the death of a former power broker and disappearance of a woman from a mental institution in the aftermath of a devastating tropical storm.
Mayor also gives us glimpses into the personal lives of his primary characters, just enough to help the reader see them as real people not merely cops on a mission. And his characters grow. Willy Kunkle, Joe’s prime sidekick, has been slowly evolving from distrustful, abrasive, loner to something softer over the series. Here he takes another step forward here as he investigates the discovery of a coffin filled with rocks instead of a body.
Mayor handles the Hurricane Irene well, not deluging us (if you’ll forgive the pun) with details, only giving us enough to paint a clear picture of the storm’s devastation.
This book has a bit of a cliffhanger ending, the first I can recall in this series. I ‘know’ what happened after the epilogue but I would have preferred Mayor to spell it out. Still an ending like this can allow him to tie up that part in a later book, and I hope he does.
There are two more books in this series I haven’t read yet. I hope they aren’t the last two.
Every book in the Joe Gunther series is a great read with one of the most accurate and realistic portrayals of police work. In this entry, Joe’s team is investigating the death of a former power broker and disappearance of a woman from a mental institution in the aftermath of a devastating tropical storm.
Mayor also gives us glimpses into the personal lives of his primary characters, just enough to help the reader see them as real people not merely cops on a mission. And his characters grow. Willy Kunkle, Joe’s prime sidekick, has been slowly evolving from distrustful, abrasive, loner to something softer over the series. Here he takes another step forward here as he investigates the discovery of a coffin filled with rocks instead of a body.
Mayor handles the Hurricane Irene well, not deluging us (if you’ll forgive the pun) with details, only giving us enough to paint a clear picture of the storm’s devastation.
This book has a bit of a cliffhanger ending, the first I can recall in this series. I ‘know’ what happened after the epilogue but I would have preferred Mayor to spell it out. Still an ending like this can allow him to tie up that part in a later book, and I hope he does.
There are two more books in this series I haven’t read yet. I hope they aren’t the last two.
March 13, 2015
This was a solid 3 stars for me. There were things I really liked about this and things I didn't like so much, almost in equal measure.
This is my first Archer Mayor novel. I did like it, but I'm a little conflicted. Firstly, I liked the story. It was creative...maybe a little far-fetched at times, but that is okay. It worked well enough for me.
Secondly, I liked his methodical approach to the clues and the way the story wrapped around them for natural discovery. But some of the info, the characters and the details seemed superfluous at times. Some of these things were just hanging out there, not adding to anything. That is one of my pet peeves. Pointless details are irksome.
So, I did like the story, even if I feel a little ambivalent about it. I'll give this author another chance.
This is my first Archer Mayor novel. I did like it, but I'm a little conflicted. Firstly, I liked the story. It was creative...maybe a little far-fetched at times, but that is okay. It worked well enough for me.
Secondly, I liked his methodical approach to the clues and the way the story wrapped around them for natural discovery. But some of the info, the characters and the details seemed superfluous at times. Some of these things were just hanging out there, not adding to anything. That is one of my pet peeves. Pointless details are irksome.
So, I did like the story, even if I feel a little ambivalent about it. I'll give this author another chance.
January 24, 2018
Accepting that this is a slow read and that the pace never picks up, I just took it easy and read the story of Vermont politics--the men's politics and the women's politics--and was disgusted by the former and heartened by the latter. But the personal stories were painful, and the long trek to put the puzzle together a bit tedious, but the whole was worth it in the end.
January 26, 2016
Another good Joe Gunther mystery in Vermont and something good happens for Joe.
September 10, 2024
Interesting plot and twists. Lots of political opinions, LGBA, lite profanity.(Ho-hum) Clear narration. 2nd reading.
February 25, 2017
I haven't read an Archer Mayor book yet that I didn't love.
November 30, 2018
One of his best! GREAT storyline.. and even better ending!
May 8, 2023
First read 10/11/2020. Second read 5/8/2023. Loved the ending and the fact that no one can get their hands on the suspect. Lol. Also, evil is punished.
July 1, 2022
The coffin of rocks: A son of an abusive father thought he had killed his gay brother in the family sawmill. The F had filled the coffin with rocks so no one knew the truth. Both sons are a mess, as is their sister. Willy helps reunite them all.
The Governor had been gang raped by high level politicians back in the day as a young intern, got pregnant, and they put her in a luxe facility on meds to keep her out of it for life! She escapes during Irene, realizes what's been done to her and by whom as the meds clear her system, and goes on a spree finding the ones who did it and killing them!
Joe Gunther and his team—the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI)—are usually called in on major cases by local Vermont enforcement whenever they need expertise and back-up. But after the state is devastated by Hurricane Irene, the police from one end of the state are taxed to their limits, leaving Joe Gunther involved in an odd, seemingly unrelated series of cases. In the wake of the hurricane, a seventeen year old gravesite is exposed, revealing a coffin that had been filled with rocks instead of the expected remains.
At the same time, an old, retired state politician turns up dead at his high-end nursing home, in circumstances that leave investigators unsure that he wasn't murdered. And a patient who calls herself The Governor has walked away from a state mental facility during the post-hurricane flood. It turns out that she was indeed once "Governor for a Day," over forty years ago, but that she might have also been falsely committed and drugged to keep her from revealing something that she saw all those years ago. Amidst the turmoil and the disaster relief, it's up to Joe Gunther and his team to learn what really happened with the two corpses—one missing—and what secret "The Governor" might have still locked in her brain that links them all. (less)
The Governor had been gang raped by high level politicians back in the day as a young intern, got pregnant, and they put her in a luxe facility on meds to keep her out of it for life! She escapes during Irene, realizes what's been done to her and by whom as the meds clear her system, and goes on a spree finding the ones who did it and killing them!
Joe Gunther and his team—the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI)—are usually called in on major cases by local Vermont enforcement whenever they need expertise and back-up. But after the state is devastated by Hurricane Irene, the police from one end of the state are taxed to their limits, leaving Joe Gunther involved in an odd, seemingly unrelated series of cases. In the wake of the hurricane, a seventeen year old gravesite is exposed, revealing a coffin that had been filled with rocks instead of the expected remains.
At the same time, an old, retired state politician turns up dead at his high-end nursing home, in circumstances that leave investigators unsure that he wasn't murdered. And a patient who calls herself The Governor has walked away from a state mental facility during the post-hurricane flood. It turns out that she was indeed once "Governor for a Day," over forty years ago, but that she might have also been falsely committed and drugged to keep her from revealing something that she saw all those years ago. Amidst the turmoil and the disaster relief, it's up to Joe Gunther and his team to learn what really happened with the two corpses—one missing—and what secret "The Governor" might have still locked in her brain that links them all. (less)
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