Marked Man (Joe Gunther Series #32)

by Archer Mayor

Overview

In Archer Mayor's Marked Man, the death of a local millionaire becomes suspicious when Joe Gunther learns that he was not who he claimed.

A year ago, local philanthropist and millionaire Nathan Lyon died a natural death in his sprawling mansion, a 150,000 square foot converted mill, surrounded by his loving, attentive family. Or so it seemed at the time. Now Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team has discovered that almost nothing about that story was true. Nathan Lyon was actually Nick Bianchi from Providence, Rhode Island. His money came from Mafia-tainted sources. And his family now seems to be dying themselves and their deaths are now revealed to be murders.

As Gunther’s team desperately works to uncover what is going on at The Mill, who is responsible and what they are trying to accomplish, Joe himself travels to Rhode Island to look into the original source of the money. While the police are doing their jobs, private investigator Sally Kravitz teams up with reporter Rachel Reiling to expose the truth behind this tangled and expanding web of duplicity, greed, and obsession. Having betrayed many, it’s no surprise that Nathan Lyon was a marked man. But now Gunther has to figure out who, among the many, killed him, and stop them before their killing spree claims another.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250224163
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Series:	Joe Gunther Series , #32
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	124,026
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

ARCHER MAYOR, in addition to writing the New York Times bestselling Joe Gunther series, is a death investigator for the state medical examiner and has twenty-five years of experience as a firefighter/EMT. He lives near Brattleboro, Vermont .

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/26/2021

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. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"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." —Booklist (starred review)

"Superb... matches vivid characters with clever plot twists." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher

2021-07-10
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.

Kirkus Reviews