THE PRICE OF MALICE

Mayor's latest Joe Gunther adventure features the Vermont Bureau of Investigation cop dealing with two crimes—in different states. In Vermont, a suspected pedophile is found in an apartment, beaten and stabbed to death. In the middle of his search for the killer, Joe takes off to help his girlfriend, Lyn, find out what happened to her father and brother in a fishing accident off the coast of Maine. Author and narrator capture small-town New England well. William Dufris delivers Gunther's middle-aged gruffness and experience, as well as his vulnerability where Lyn is concerned. An interchange between a policewoman and a neglected trailer park child is particularly memorable. With the addition of some lowlifes, fellow cops, and a psychiatrist with a foreign accent, you have a fast-moving, well-performed mystery. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2010]