Open Season

The Joe Gunther Mysteries, Book 1

By: Archer Mayor

Narrated by: Tom Taylorson

Lt. Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, Vermont, police force has a serious problem: in a community where a decade could pass without a single murder, the body count is suddenly mounting. Innocent citizens are being killed - and others set up - seemingly orchestrated by a mysterious ski-masked man.

Signs suggest that a three-year-old murder trial might lie at the heart of things, but it's a case that many in the department would prefer remained closed. A man of quiet integrity, Lt. Gunther knows that he must pursue the case to its conclusion, wherever it leads.

©2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

An enjoyable new detective series!

This one starts with an introduction to Joe Gunther, a private detective on the trail of a serial killer. Perfectly narrated by a favored of mine, Tom Taylorson, I am happy I found this hidden gem. Archer Mayor adds perfect timing as he interweaves humor, suspense and mystery in this thrilling tale. I am looking forward to more in this series. Highly recommended. Worth a treasured credit!
👏✍🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟✍🏻👏

Good story

This reader is excellent. Sometimes I don’t listen to books by an author bc the reader/performer is poor. The story was adventuresome, the unfolding was curious and interesting. I will listen to more.

Straight Up Police Drama

Open Season is far and away my favorite Plus Catalog listen. As the headline indicates, it is a pretty straight forward police drama with Joe Gunther, a police detective in the lead role. The storyline moves along at a solid pace revolving around multiple murders that ultimately tie together based on a vengeful adversary out to unravel the true culprit in the killing of a young woman. A black man sits in prison already convicted of the crime in a speedy trial in which the evidence was so convincing, the police did little to look past what was right in front of them. Joe Gunther gets drawn into the mix and undertakes the unpopular task of researching the crime again. With the plot twists and turns, the listener is provided with some detailed police work that leads to a conclusion, while not totally unexpected, was worth the listen.

Of special note is the performance by Tom Taylorson. This was my first opportunity to listen to his narration and it was top notch in every regard. His throaty portrayal of the voice of Gunther made him easily recognizable over others in the cast of characters. IMO, he did the best I have listened to with female voices. His prose was crisp and easy to follow. Overall, a good listen and I will be checking out other Joe Gunther novels. Enjoy

What a great listen

I got this title because I was recommended the second book, but wanted to start at the beginning. I was taken quickly and gave up quite a bit of sleep to finish. I will start the next one later today.
Thank goodness I am on vacation and can listen all day.
I never give away the plot in my reviews, but I will say that the characters are well defined, the writing is great, and the author nailed the concept of location as the other character.
I highly recommend this book. Make sure you have time to spare because you will not be able to put in it down until you are finished.

Narrator Makes The Series

Great to listen to while working as the narrator has such a pleasant and talented voice.
The characters are interesting but the story moves too slowly at times and I found the conclusion a bit lackluster.
There was not a ton of emotional drama but still more than I prefer.

just ok

it took too long to get there. and the narrator was weird. It is free tho. lol

My new favorite author

What a compelling read. Beautifully crafted, well performed. A most exciting plot. Dialogue and prose drive the story forward and kept this reader enthralled. Looking forward to the next Archer Mayor novel.

Begins strong

The story began full force. I like that. The mystery was intriguing. Somewhere in the middle it seemed to veer off course and lose focus on the original intrigue. Too many side tracks. It got a little confusing and the finale was a bit of a “really???”. I would read more by this author regardless;however it became overloaded with gratuitous profanity. I read a great deal and trust me there are excellent authors who do not use loads of profanity. And their stories are excellent.

Full of suspense from beginning to end!

This book was great! Gripping from beginning to end. Narration was great also. Good listen.

Pretty good, but...

I liked this new series (new for me), but be warned that it's a very slow and steady listen. Took a long time for character development. and the plot dragged in places. The narration was good and the drama was there, it just was slowwwwwwww....