Joe Gunther, a Vermont cop for most of his adult life and now the head of the VBI (Vermont Bureau of Investigation) gets the call that every law enforcement person hates and every friend and family member of a policeman fears — a cop has been shot and killed.  A deputy sheriff was shot to death during a routine traffic stop on a dark country road.  From what can been seen on the cruiser's tape recorder of the killers, it is believed that they were a couple of Boston-based drug runners who had been stopped by the deputy on their way from Canada down to Boston.   Which is what brings Gunther and his team to the investigation - an attempt to shut down the major drug running operation.  Specially that of one Alan Budney, disaffected son of a lobsterman, now a drug kingpin, who uses the closed, clannish lobster fishing community and his extended family in particular, to move drugs along the New England coast. The most recent book - and last from Grand Central - Chat, has spent four week on the extended Booksense bestseller list and, as always, has been on the NEBA bestseller list since publication.  He is the winner of the 2004 New England Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction.

"At the start of Mayor's fine 19th Joe Gunther novel (after 2007's Chat), Vermont deputy sheriff Brian Sleuter gets shot in the temple while making a routine traffic stop near the Canadian border. The video camera on Sleuter's cruiser taped the murder, so it appears to be a simple case, but Mayor never makes things simple. Since the pair that Sleuter stopped have a drug history, Joe Gunther, head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, coordinates with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Boston. In a smash-bang arrest attempt, one suspect is killed, the other escapes. Joe follows him to Maine, where a drug distributor was recently murdered, drawing Joe and his staff into a fight for control of the New England drug trade and a vengeful family feud. The plot meanders and relies on coincidence more than usual in this superior regional series, but a surprise resolution to the cop killing and an unexpected final 'catch,' one of many in the story, will leave fans feeling fully satisfied. 30-city author tour. (Oct.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Joe Gunther, head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, and his team are brought in to not only find and bring down the killers of a fellow officer, but also to infiltrate and shut down the major drug running operation going through Vermont.

Archer Mayor, in addition to being a novelist,  is also a death investigator for Vermont’s Chief Medical Examiner, a deputy for the Windham County Sheriff’s Department, and has 25 years experience as a volunteer firefighter and EMT.