Archer Mayor Books In Order
Archer Mayor (website) is an American author is well known for his Joe Gunther series, featuring the quiet and hardworking detective living in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Archer Mayor attended and graduated from the Yale University in New Haven, after which he held several jobs traveling in various countries all over the world.
He grew up in the US, Canada and France, and some of the temporary jobs he held over the years included being a school editor, theater photographer, newspaper writer and editor, lab technician in Paris, as well as a medical illustrator.
Archer Mayor is currently living in Vermont working as a death investigator for Vermont’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, while in addition he is also a detective helping with solving child sex crimes for the Windham County Sheriff’s Office.Of course he is also a popular book author, not to mention the fact that he is often traveling the country for the AAA giving speeches and conducting workshops. He has over 25 year experience as a firefighter and an EMT, and his Joe Gunther novels subtly draw from his vast experience and knowledge.
He never writes about real cases in his novels, set to drawing a clear ethical line between his writing and his police work, however Joe Gunther’s world has plenty of influences coming from Archer Mayor’s work in the various aspects of the law enforcement.
Before becoming a novelist, he wrote several history books, of which the most notable one was Southern Timberman: The Legacy of William Buchanan, published in 1988.
Reading the Archer Mayor books in the right order will be easy as each of the currently 26 released books follow the same publication order. The 26 books have been so far published in 5 languages and they often appear in major publication’s top ten lists, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the LA Times.
The first novel in the series, Open Season was published in 1988, and almost every year after the author managed to write a new Joe Gunther novel, much to the delight of the series fans.
Here are the Archer Mayor books in order for his series, and here’s hoping that there will be many more books to follow. When asked if he intends to stop writing the Joe Gunther books any time soon, in an interview with Masslive last year, he said:
“It’s not like Sue Grafton [best known as the author of the “alphabet series” featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone] and I’d run out of letters.”
New Archer Mayor Book

Joe Gunther Books In Order
- Open Season (Joe Gunther #1), 1988
- Borderlines (Joe Gunther #2), 1990
- Scent of Evil (Joe Gunther #3), 1991
- The Skeleton’s Knee (Joe Gunther #4), 1992
- Fruits of the Poisonous Tree (Joe Gunther #5), 1993
- The Dark Root (Joe Gunther #6), 1994
- The Ragman’s Memory (Joe Gunther #7), 1995
- Bellows Falls (Joe Gunther #8), 1996
- The Disposable Man (Joe Gunther #9), 1997
- Occam’s Razor (Joe Gunther #10), 1999
- The Marble Mask (Joe Gunther #11), 2000
- Tucker Peak (Joe Gunther #12), 2001
- The Sniper’s Wife (Joe Gunther #13), 2002
- Gatekeeper (Joe Gunther #14), 2003
- The Surrogate Thief (Joe Gunther #15), 2004
- St. Albans Fire (Joe Gunther #16), 2005
- The Second Mouse (Joe Gunther #17), 2006
- Chat (Joe Gunther #18), 2007
- The Catch
- The Price of Malice (Joe Gunther #20), 2009
- Red Herring (Joe Gunther #21), 2010
- Tag Man (Joe Gunther #22), 2011
- Paradise City (Joe Gunther #23), 2012
- Three Can Keep a Secret (Joe Gunther #24), 2013
- Proof Positive (Joe Gunther #25), 2014
- The Company She Kept (Joe Gunther #26), 2015
- Presumption of Guilt (Joe Gunther #27), 2016
- Trace (Joe Gunther #28), 2017
- Bury the Lead (Joe Gunther #29), 2018
Almost done reading all the books again – Some for as many as four times and every time the read is great.
I use Audible as a book source since I am an avid quilter, painter, and other such artistic endeavors which don’t allow me to sit much with a book in my hand. I am currently on 10. The narrators are fabulous and I am so please with the consistency of voice as well as written word. Thanks for the adventure with Joe Gunther and the cast of characters which I have begun to love and feel so real. A kinship. I hope Mr. Mayor does not retire from writing about Joe Gunther as Micheal Connelly did with Boush.
I’m in the process of reading Open Season, a recommendation from a young lady at the Yankee Book Store in Woodstock VT, where we were vacationing. I’m about half way, and love it, great job of writing, local atmosphere, excellent plot, fast pace. At this point i plan to order five more in the series from Yankee, we support local, private business, even though i live in PA, I’m sure they will send them to me. Well done, now i hope you don’t screw up the ending!