THE ORPHAN'S GUILT

Vermont Bureau of Investigation head Joe Gunther’s latest deep dive into crimes and misdemeanors takes off from the most unexpectedly consequential DUI arrest in local history.

The stop itself is routine. Web designer John Rust has clearly had one too many, Trooper Tyler Brennan pulls him over without incident, and the closest Rust comes to putting up any resistance is explaining that he’s been drinking to get over the death of the brother he’s cared for since childhood. Peter Rust had been hydrocephalic and vegetative for most of his 28 years, and everyone who knew him would agree that both before and after his worthless father, Daryl Hicks, took off 10 years ago following the fatal overdose of his wife, John took care of his brother with saintly patience. It’s not until Scott Jezek, John’s lawyer, spots procedural irregularities in the arrest that might give his client some wiggle room and asks investigator Sally Kravitz to dig up more details about the family’s past that skeletons begin to spring from their closets, joined shortly by the all-too-fresh body of Daryl Hicks. As Joe works his corner of the case, Sally and reporter Rachel Reiling team up again to work their own, and Mayor provides so much fodder for everyone that fresh complications are still piling up as the tale hurtles toward its final scene.

The ending may leave readers shaking their heads, but not until they’ve plowed through an impressively darkening middle.