OMG! Vermont detective Joe Gunther uncovers a disturbing child-predator Internet chat-room scam in CHAT, Archer Mayor’s 18th novel in the mystery series.

When the book opens, Joe’s mom and brother are nearly killed when their car flies off the road on a wintery night. Knowing how skilled a driver his sibling really is, Joe suspects foul play, and looks into it. Meanwhile, a floater turns up in a nearby brook with no explanation, and Joe’s gotta look into that, too.

That’s no match in the strange department for the body later found in a cheap motel room. Eventually, a commonality is found between them, and it has to do with sick-minded dudes trolling the WWW for underage tail. Hence the title.

Chat-room transcripts – heavy on the asinine abbreviations, aggravating lingo and atrocious spelling – bridge most chapters. At first, they’re stupid and pointless – just like real instant messages, ROTFL! – until a sinister pattern slowly emerges.

Mayor enjoys painting picturesque scenery of the Vermont landscape. It seems to be his thing, and makes the town’s inhabitants seem all the more cozy. As a mystery, CHAT is like a mid-morning snack: not wholly satisfying, but just enough to hit the spot. The climax may not be an earth-shatterer, but it’s the procedural part that keeps you reading until you reach it. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE SECOND MOUSE by Archer Mayor