Occam's Razor

A man dressed in rags is found lying on the railroad tracks. A few days later, an abandoned truck is found with traces of illegal toxic waste in its bed. Then, a woman is found dead in her home, the victim of a savage knife attack. As the three murders are reconstructed, a connection slowly materializes between an ambitious state senator and his rival, the Speaker of the House.

Mayor's sturdy series about police lieutenant Joe Gunther of Brattleboro, Vt., has much more on its mind than just mystery. Each book tackles at least one important social issue, from the encroachment of the Russian mafia to the impact on New England of smuggled Chinese immigrants. The 10th in the series (after 1998's The Disposable Man) is no exception: toxic waste is a major subject, and so is the political infighting surrounding a plan to drastically change the way Vermont's many police agencies are run. Gunther and his believably mixed bag of investigators also have to deal with the murder of a man left unconscious on a railroad track, the knifing death of a woman living on the fringes of the law and a series of phone calls that implicate an ambitious politician in both crimes. Meanwhile, Guther's living arrangements with prosecutor Gail Zigman are under severe strain, and two of his top detectives are having romantic problems as well. All the story strings are woven with the common sense and low-key heroics that characterize the series, but Mayor's greatest strength remains his uncanny ability to capture the seedy, seamy sides of life in his home state of VermontAfrom evil-smelling public housing projects to factories and workshops rusting away behind the scenic but deceptively pretty greenery. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The corpse had neither head nor handsan outcome not really surprising when an irresistible force (speeding train) meets a highly perishable object (the human form). But there are aspects of the encounter that puzzle Joe Gunther, the Brattleboro, Vermont chief of detectives in his tenth outing (The Disposable Man, 1998, etc.). To begin with, there's the obvious questionwhat led to it? A suicide? asks Joe's boss. Joe doubts it. You don't usually find suicides with their hands on the tracks. Then there's the contrast between dramatically dirty outer clothing and emphatically clean underpants. Joe's skepticism is warranted. And this murder has links to two others. Moreover, all three involve a certain politically powerful figure whose protestations, thinks Joe, fall in that bothersome ``too much'' category. Bothersome applies to Joe's home front as well. He's beginning to sense that Gail, the woman he lives with, might be planing to leave him. And though he loves her dearly, he isn't sure he'd be right to stop her. Occam's Razor is the philosophical tenet that points up the wisdom of keeping it simple, and Joe does try. The murders get solved, the home front gets resolved, but there's plenty of pain for plenty of people on plenty of levels along the way. Simple is hard. Gunther remains thoroughly likable, his Brattleboro interesting and fully realized. Now maybe he'll pick up his pace a bit, addressing the sag that always seems to beset his middles. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The adage of Occam's razor reminds us that when weighing competing theories, the simplest may be best. Lieutenant Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, Vermont, PD has to keep reminding himself of the proverb as the bodies pile up and possible linkages between seemingly unrelated crimes multiply. A man's body is carefully placed on railroad tracks so that the scheduled freight train mashes the head and hands. Meanwhile, a state legislator who is campaigning to unify Vermont's fragmented police agencies has his office burgled, and Gunther is tipped that the legislator is involved in illegal dumping of hazardous waste. To add to the confusion, Gunther's best detective becomes erratic in her work, and Gunther is having romance problems. Mayor is a gifted storyteller, and his books always offer well-crafted characters, skillful storytelling, and one of the strongest senses of place in the mystery genre. This one won't disappoint, and a lyrical 200-word description of a Brattleboro snowfall might be the sweetest, most knowing 200 words of the year. Thomas Gaughan

Series homicide detective Joe Gunther (The Disposable Man) investigates two separate but particularly grisly murders in Brattleboro. An anonymous call soon links a local politician to both. A solid procedural.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.