by Archer Mayor
Part of Joe Gunther, book 11
First published 2000
Joe Gunther faces his strangest case yet when winter climbers discover a body frozen solid on Vermont's tallest mountain. The corpse appears to be a lost hiker until the thaw reveals something impossible. The dead man carries identification from the 1940s and bears an ice pick wound through the heart. He is Jean Deschamps, a Canadian smuggler who vanished fifty years ago after making millions during World War Two. His son Michel now controls the family crime empire while battling terminal cancer. Both the Hell's Angels and Montreal's Rock Machine circle like vultures, ready to seize Deschamps territory. Evidence suggests Michel murdered his own father, but Joe suspects a setup. The investigation uncovers Jean's belief that his eldest son Antoine died under suspicious circumstances during the Italian campaign, not in honest combat as officially reported. Rumors swirl about a missing Michelangelo marble mask that disappeared around the same time. Joe leads his new Vermont Bureau of Investigation team, including Sam and Willy, into a web of international intrigue spanning decades. They must separate truth from deception while navigating dangerous politics that blur the line between law enforcement and organized crime.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, investigation
Setting: Vermont, Canada, Italy
Period: 1940s, 1990s
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