Chat by Archer Mayor (2008, Paperback, Reprint)

What's not to love about a suspenseful whodunit wherein one of the murder victims conceals his child-porn habit by telling his wife he has an eBay business on the side? As if child porn wasn't bad enough, he has to sully eBay with his sordid tale?! This man obviously deserved to die! LOL.

There's nothing funny about child porn, but this low-key police procedural does leaven its taut, intricate plot with lighter moments thanks to wonderfully drawn characters and masterful writing. Here's a summary of the action:

News travels fast in the small state of Vermont, so when a mysterious homicide happens in the rustic town of Brattleboro, it doesn't take long before Vermont Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joe Gunther is on the scene to assist the local police. But then he receives the shocking news that his mother and brother have been seriously injured in a suspicious car accident — the subject of the book's harrowing opening scene. Could somebody be trying to kill them?

Then a second unidentified body is found, and Joe is forced to focus on the murder cases. His investigation of the deaths soon leads him into the scary world of online chat rooms where perverted older men prey upon naïve young girls. Meanwhile, he's also checking into the accident that almost killed his mother and brother. Along the way, he meets an intriguing and likable love interest. And of course, he ultimately solves all of the crimes, but not without many a tense moment and grand dramatic climaxes to both of the parallel storylines.

"Chat" is just one in what's evidently an outstanding series by Archer Mayor. Now I can't wait to read the rest of them. The characters get right up off the pages and go through their paces as if in real life, and it's all just too believable. The gore factor is fairly low; there's more puzzle-solving than blood-letting. But the pace is relentless, alternating back and forth between advancing the main action and chat-room dialogues whose relevance becomes increasingly clear as you get further into the story.

Some of Mayor's verisimilitude comes from his real-life jobs as an actual investigator for Vermont's chief medical examiner and a deputy for the Windham County Sheriff's Department, but the rest of it comes from flat-out writing talent plus sheer craftsmanship. His style is straightforward and accessible, and his protagonist and iconoclastic supporting cast are great to spend time with. If you like a suspenseful whodunit with a satisfying conclusion, then you'll love Archer Mayor's "Chat".

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