Ticket to Ride (Sam McCain Mysteries) - Hardcover

Gorman, Ed

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1605980706 ISBN 13: 9781605980706

Publisher: Pegasus Crime, 2009

Synopsis

1965: America’s favorite small-town detective must solve the murder of two old friends against the backdrop of America’s cultural revolution.

For small-town Iowa lawyer Sam McCain the year 1965 is not a sweet one. His father is gravely ill. His elitist boss is just now coming out of rehab. The brilliant lawyer he'd hoped to start a relationship with has gone back to her husband in Chicago. And first young soldier from Black River Falls returns home from a strange place called Viet Nam. In a coffin.

Against this background McCain tries to enjoy himself during the long Labor Day weekend party the town sponsors every year, reuniting with several old friends who appeared throughout the first six novels. Now that they're all in their late twenties some of the old grudges and rivalries seem silly―until two of them are murdered for what seems to be a motive buried in the past.

With the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan irritating those over thirty―and the boys in long hair and girls wearing blouses without bras irritating people even more―Sam McCain is forced to realize that his old world, along with the entire country's, is about to end forever.

About this title

About the Author

Ed Gorman is the beloved author of dozens of mystery novels, including the New York Times bestselling Frankenstein, which he co-wrote with Dean Koontz. He has received the Shamus Award, the Spur Award, and the International Fiction Writers Award. Ed lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Reviews

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. (Jan.)
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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 rally’s leader, Doran. Although McCain regards Doran as a poseur, he agrees to represent him because he knows none of the town’s other lawyers will step up. When Bennett’s business partner is also murdered, McCain realizes there’s 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 era’s divisiveness. Meanwhile, McCain is unafraid to go toe to toe with the town’s 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. --Joanne Wilkinson

Edition details

• Publisher: Pegasus Crime
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1605980706
• ISBN 13: 9781605980706
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240