Ticket to Ride

November 30, 2009
Smalltown small-mindedness drives Gorman's entertaining eighth mystery to feature lawyer Sam McCain (after 2007's Fools Rush In
). As the Vietnam war escalates during the summer of 1965, Lou Bennett, the socially prominent father of a slain soldier, interrupts a protest demonstration in Sam's hometown of Black River Falls, Iowa. When Bennett's murdered that night, the stupid and prejudiced local police chief arrests an obnoxiously mouthy protester. Sam soon learns that the crime may actually be related to Bennett's shady business dealings and his involvement in the murder of a lower-class young woman he considered unworthy of his son. Besides getting the pop culture of the period right, Gorman captures the baffled frustration of provincial folk who don't want to believe that things are more complicated than they look, that it's sometimes a mistake to trust people in authority. Readers will be left wondering whether it's time for Sam to grow up and leave home.

December 15, 2009
1965. Echoes of the Vietnam War trouble the waters of Black River Falls, Iowa—which, as fans of attorney/investigator Sam McCain know, were never all that peaceful to begin with.

Something about Harrison Doran makes certain people want to take a swing at him. Whether it's his larger-than-life good looks, his way with the ladies, his antiwar stance, or the promise that he'll inherit $10 million, even mild-mannered McCain can't abide him. When hawkish Korean veteran Lou Bennett is stabbed to death the night after he decks Doran at an antiwar rally, McCain's alcoholic boss, Judge Esme Anne Whitney, asks him to represent Doran and prepare a defense on his behalf. That means replacing him in jail with someone else, even though Doran, after his initial panic has passed, indicates that he's in no hurry to be found innocent or even to make bail. To the accompaniment of a'60s soundtrack and concomitant cultural markers from Norman Mailer to Candid Camera, McCain makes the rounds of the usual sources (idiot police chief Cliffie Sykes, reporter Sally Weaver, soft-core pornographer Kenny Thibodeau) and fresh new faces auditioning for the role of killer: book-burning preacher H. Dobson Cartwright, Bennett's daughter Linda Raines, ultra-right-wing retired fire chief Ralph DePaul, and William Hughes, who's been Bennett's dogsbody ever since Bennett saved his life in Korea. When finally identified, however, the killer comes out of deep left field.

The locals seem to be displaying more dirty laundry more openly than usual (Fools Rush In, 2007, etc.). Blame the Beatles.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2010
In the eighth entry in the Sam McCain series, set in 1965 and following Fools Rush In (2007), the small-town Iowa lawyer becomes a lightning rod for animosity when he helps to organize an antiwar rally. Retired army colonel Lee Bennett is outraged at what he perceives to be the demonstrators disrespect for the many young dead soldiers, among them his own son. When Bennett turns up murdered, suspicion falls on the rallys leader, Doran. Although McCain regards Doran as a poseur, he agrees to represent him because he knows none of the towns other lawyers will step up. When Bennetts business partner is also murdered, McCain realizes theres a lot more to the case than politics. Gorman casts a sardonic eye on characters from both sides of the political aisle even as he astutely captures the fractious eras divisiveness. Meanwhile, McCain is unafraid to go toe to toe with the towns leading citizens, many of whom he grew up with, as he digs for information. An absorbing mystery that offers an insightful portrait of small-town dynamics and plenty of deadpan humor.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)