The Viper, John Verdon’s latest novel featuring the retired, but not quite retired New York homicide detective Dave Gurney, starts with Gurney’s placid upstate New York life being interrupted by a request for his skills in investigating a murder. Emma, a friend of Gurney’s wife, Madeline, who is some sort of addiction recovery guru, wants Gurney to look into the conviction of one her followers, Ziko Slade, a former tennis star turned bad boy turned beatific avatar of serenity and healthy living.
As is the case in a Dave Gurney novel, the conviction seems so open and shut that only a naïve fool—or the greatest detective in the world—would imagine that anything could reverse it. But, that’s the kind of challenge Gurney lives for, so he accepts the assignment and starts to probe the matter. Madeline is not pleased by this, and we learn that they have only just started recovering from an attack by a deranged murderer that left them in a state of fear. This occurred in a previous book in the series, which I haven’t read, so I had to take it on faith that it was a serious trauma.
The dynamic of Dave pursuing a case against Madeline’s wishes is a theme in the series. She wants to focus on rural life and its calm pleasures, which Dave also enjoys, but he can’t help but be drawn in by an overpowering need to get to the truth and bring justice where it has not previously been served. This tension threatens to explode in this book, and Verdon is a good enough writer that the interweaving of the marriage story with the basic mystery is very compelling.
The crime in question is the gruesome murder and dismemberment of a small-time crook, Lenny Lerman, who had apparently attempted to blackmail Slade with some unsavory information about the tennis player’s past. Lerman’s body is found on Slade’s property. Evidence connects him to the crime, and he has no alibi. That, combined with his bad reputation, earns him a 30-year sentence in Attica, the notorious New York prison. Emma, convinced that he could never have done such a thing in his state of sobriety and renewed sense of peaceful purpose in life, wants him freed.
Gurney is not so sure at first. He thinks Slade might be faking his clean new act, and the case against the man seems pretty overwhelming. As he begins to chip away at the original investigation, however, he notices some oddities that deserve further examination. This brings him into sharp, instant conflict with the cops and Cam Stryker, the DA who prosecuted the case. She warns Gurney off the matter, and in the process reveals herself to be a woman whose political ambitions distort her sense of right and wrong, if not reality itself. Still, she presented her case competently in court, so it will take a lot to get a reversal.
At the same time, sinister, shadowy people seem to be following Gurney as he moves through his investigation. He receives threats and a few warnings that he unwisely conceals from Madeline. Things go from bad to a thousand times worse when he’s framed for murdering someone connected to the case. Now, Stryker can lock him up forever, while the real bad guys continue to plot his demise.
Gurney’s reaction to this danger is not to walk away, which most normal people would do, but to take his predicament as vindication of his instinct that Slade is innocent. He continues, getting into greater danger and threatening his marriage ever more.
Verdon is a very skilled writer. He brings a literary novelist’s sensibilities and style to the mystery form. He’s not afraid to take on touchy topics, like the odious American news media, presented here in RAM News, a doppelganger for Fox News. As a mystery writer, he’s a superb craftsman, so the result is an engaging read. You’ll be trying to figure out who’s who at every turn. I thought I had nailed it early on, and I was almost right… but that’s part of the fun. Some reviewers on Amazon feel that this is not Verdon’s best work, and I get where they’re coming from, but I think it’s important to judge a book on its own merits, rather than compare it to others in a series.