When the body of a fast-living young stockbroker is found in a shallow grave, suspicion first falls on a cuckolded policeman. Lt. Joe Gunther investigates the increasingly bizarre details of the crime, but finds that he's too far behind events to prevent a second murder. Indeed, whoever is responsible always seems to be a few steps ahead, as if there's a leak on the force. Sweltering August heat does nothing to calm the increasingly agitated town selectmen, who demand results.

Gail Zigman, town selectwoman and Joe Gunther's companion of many years, is raped, and the detective finds himself caught between the media, local politicians, and a network of well-meaning victims' rights advocates as he tries to put his own feelings aside and follow the trail of evidence. Every lead seems to point to a single, obvious suspect, but is the evidence too perfect? Risking his friendship with Gail, the respect of his peers, and his own life, Lt. Gunther keeps digging, hoping to find out if the man they have in jail is rightly there, or if the evidence against him is...

Linking a series of seemingly unrelated crimes to a Vietnamese gangster's campaign to take over a Chinese mob's operation in Vermont, Brattleboro Police Lieutenant Joe Gunther pulls out all the stops--including calling in the FBI. When Gunther's friend is wounded and one of his officers is murdered, his determination veers toward obsession as he joins the feds in a war that crosses the border into Canada for a final showdown in Montreal.

Vermont homicide detective Joe Gunther takes on a disturbing case of spousal abuse, police corruption and murder in his latest outing. Asked to conduct a minor Internal Affairs investigation in Bellows Falls, Gunther has to work quickly to separate fact from fiction--but nothing he's heard will prepare him for what he's about to see.

As developers overseeing the expansion of the ski resort at Vermont's Tucker Peak clash with environmentalists protesting the project, the slope-side condo owners suffer a rash of burglaries. Sheriff's Lt. Joe Gunther soon realizes the most likely thief has vanished--leaving behind a dead girlfriend. Grappling with an increasingly violent game, Joe soon finds himself caught in a perilous town where truth may be the deadliest sport of all.

The latest installment in Mayor's classic Joe Gunther series finds the intrepid detective and his team in scorching pursuit of a serial arsonist.