Marked Man

Starred review from July 26, 2021
Bestseller Mayor expertly juggles four plotlines, which may or may not be related, in his superb 32nd mystery featuring Vermont Bureau of Investigation agent Joe Gunther (after 2020’s The Orphan’s Guilt). A year after the death of affluent food supplier Nathan Lyon from natural causes while under hospice care, a medical student dissecting his corpse determines that Lyon was strangled, prompting Gunther to launch a murder inquiry. The eccentric Lyon had most of his family, and thus most of those with an obvious motive to kill him, living together in a huge home that also housed several stores. As Gunther tries to find clues so long after the murder, a second member of the Lyon clan dies, this time from an apparently accidental fall. Meanwhile, PI Sally Kravitz is retained by the wife of one of Lyon’s sons, who suspects an employee is stealing from her fancy food business. Finally, two Mafia hit men are trying to identify who ordered the killing that one of them admitted committing and did time for, but now claims not to have committed, in an attempt to find out who he took the fall for. Mayor matches vivid characters with clever plot twists. This is a perfect jumping-on point for newcomers. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Agency.

August 1, 2021
Every single member of the Brattleboro squad of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation is needed to run down the epic malfeasance headquartered in the state's largest private house. When a medical student discovers that the death of Nathan Lyon, the narcissistic patriarch who, in an uncharacteristically generous gesture, donated his body to science, was anything but natural, his widow, Monica Tardy, barely pays attention. She lives in an opulent converted factory that also houses Nathan's son Rob; Nathan and Monica's son Mike; Gene Russell, the son Monica gave up for adoption at an early age; Mike's and Gene's wives and children; and several boutique companies, from ER Ceramics, which Gene runs, to Food Flourish, a partnership between Mike and Michelle Lyon. The rest of the family seems barely more moved even after a second domestic demise they just can't persuade themselves is suspicious. Squad leader Joe Gunther takes turns with Lester Spinney, renegade Willy Kunkle, and Willy's live-in partner, Samantha Martens, diving into the family's past and unearthing an endless history of adulteries, illegitimate births, underhanded business deals, and concealed felonies that fully justify manse manager Kimona Alin's description of the place as "Lord of the Rings [...] meets Lord of the Flies." Meanwhile, foolish wise guy Eddie "Mouse" Moscone, after completing a prison term for a murder he confessed to but didn't commit, visits a series of Rhode Island mobsters to find out who actually did kill Vito Alfano and why they wanted him to take the fall. Tracing the unlikely but inevitable connections between Mouse and the Lyons will eventually pay off with a handsome surprise just when you think Mayor couldn't possibly surprise you again. A deep dive into a mall-sized closet full of skeletons.

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Starred review from September 1, 2021
Millionaire Nathan Lyon has brought 1960s-style communal living forward in time and elevated it to an art form, converting an old Vermont mill into an enormous home where his entire blended family can live--apparently, whether they want to, or not, turning them into "rich, privileged, insulated zombies." A year after Lyon's apparently natural death, evidence surfaces that changes the reason for his demise to murder by strangulation. As Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team dig in, they discover that Lyon was really the Mob-affiliated Nick Bianchi from Providence, Rhode Island. When members of his family are subsequently murdered, their DNA reveals that the clan is "like a jigsaw puzzle from four different boxes." Joe travels to Rhode Island to investigate, along with PI Sally Kravitz and reporter Rachel Reiling, two of Mayor's many delightful recurring characters. There is a parallel story, too, involving two of Nick's former associates, who arrive in Brattleboro with a cinematic flourish--full Mob outfits, complete with city shoes and black-leather coats--to provide the final answers to the puzzle. This is the thirty-second Joe Gunther novel (following The Orphan's Guilt, 2020), and it's been clear for quite awhile that Mayor's series--a perfect mix of character, setting, and story--is one of the best American police procedurals going.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.