Bury the Lead: A Joe Gunther Novel

Bestseller Mayor’s solid 29th Joe Gunther novel (after 2017’s Trace) opens with an autopsy conducted by chief medical examiner Beverly Hillstrom, Joe’s trusted associate for decades and, more recently, his lover, on the body of an unidentified young woman found near a resort on Bromley Mountain. Joe and his team at the Vermont Bureau of Investigation soon have a suspect, thanks to security camera footage that caught logger Mick Durocher, who’s also a small-time crook, disposing of the woman’s body. Mick readily confesses that he hit the victim—a woman named Teri Parker he picked up in a bar—with a two-by-four in a drunken quarrel, but his story doesn’t hold up, and finding the real killer isn’t easy. Meanwhile, arson strikes the GreenField Grocers, and further sabotage has fatal results. Beverly’s daughter, Rachel Reiling, newly hired as a photographer for the Battleboro Reformer, does her own, predictably dangerous, investigating into the GreenField case. This enjoyable ensemble effort is sure to please Mayor’s many fans. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Agency. (Sept.)