Sam McCain Mystery
8 primary works • 10 total works
Book 1
The morning of February 4, 1959, brought bad news for Sam McCain, rock and roll fan, for his musical idol, Buddy Holly, had perished in a plane crash. But the day also brought bad news that hit closer to home in Sam's small Iowa town: a local couple was dead, too - in an apparent murder-suicide with some disturbing loose ends. For Sam McCain, P.I. and lawyer, that means an investigation. And McCain is about to find that behind the white picket fences of Black River Falls, there's a flip side to the American dream...
Book 3
In September 1957 the Edsel made its long-awaited debut in Black River Falls, Iowa. The local Ford dealership was hosting a baton-twirling celebration to welcome the car of the future. But the future can't be taken for granted - a fact made all too clear by the discovery of Susan Squire's body in the boot of one of the brand-new cars. Now Private Eye Sam McCain must find out who killed the wife of the town's most prominent lawyer before the guilty party hits the road.
Book 4
This novel is set in August 1960 when Vice President Nixon is riding the campaign trail. Among his next stops is Black River Falls, Iowa - a prospect that has the whole town talking. Meanwhile, reclusive preacher, John Muldaur claims that he may be the target of a papist assassination plot. Although Sam McCain, the town's youngest lawyer and sometime private investigator, finds this improbable, he can't deny it when the preacher drops dead at his own altar. With Nixon's visit only a week away, this inconvenient matter of murder must be cleared up fast. Between McCain and the solution stand a heap of local prejudices, unpleasant family secrets, another corpse and a cage full of rattlesnakes.
Book 5
Things go wrong for dangerous, young David Egan when he finds himself charged with the murder of the pampered but seriously disturbed daughter in the wealthy Griffin family of Black River Falls. They go fatally wrong the night that Egan crashes his black Mercury into a bridge at ninety miles and hour in a drag race outside of town - but no accident, it would appear, as the Merc's brake line had been cut.Struggling lawyer and sometime private eye Sam McCain finds himself, not unusually, hauled into the investigation by the incorrigible Judge Esme Ann Whitney.Jealous husbands, philandering spouses, jilted girlfriends, outraged parents, a long suffering wife - Sam does not want for suspects. Or for clues. It's the conclusive evidence that surprises him and that frostily ends the Indian summer in Iowa 1961.
Book 6
There is mystery under the threat of nuclear missiles. It is October 1962. Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev is threatening to launch nuclear missiles from Cuba if the U.S. attempts to stage an invasion there. The Kennedy White House has been facing down the Soviets, but the threat of nuclear holocaust has unsettled the heartland. In Black River Falls, popular candidate for governor, Ross Murdoch, is stocking up his newly built bomb shelter. It's the last place you'd expect to find a corpse, or so young lawyer, Sam McCain thinks. The discovery of glamorous, sexy - and now very dead - Karen Hastings is the start of Sam's investigation into blackmail and murder. But, with four well-respected pillars of the community as his prime suspects, whom can Sam trust?
Book 7
Book 8
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.
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.
Book 9
A hippie commune has invaded Black River Falls. While the majority of the townspeople believe that the bohemians have the right to stay—despite how bizarre some of their ways can seem—as always, there is a minority that constantly accuses them of everything from criminal activities to Satanism. As usual, lawyer and private investigator Sam McCain finds himself in the middle of the controversy, especially when the teenage daughter of Paul Mainwaring, one of the town’s wealthiest men, is found murdered in the commune’s barn. A deeply troubled young man (and Vietnam vet) named Neil Cameron is immediately charged with the crime, but Sam has serious doubts.
In this lively and poignant new novel, Ed Gorman offers readers his richest portrait yet about Black River Falls and its people.
In this lively and poignant new novel, Ed Gorman offers readers his richest portrait yet about Black River Falls and its people.
It is 21 September, 1959. The world's number-one Communist, Nikita Khrushchev, has landed in Iowa during the height of the McCarthy era and in Black River Falls someone has resorted to painting the town murderously red. A high-profile writer, with Communist sympathies and a very jealous wife, turns up dead at the office of private eye and lawyer Sam McCain. Everyone - including McCain's sometime boss - believes it was the victim's politics that got him killed. But McCain isn't convinced. Especially when his two suspects also turn up dead within the next 24 hours. Now he must prove that this time murder is more personal than political.
When we last saw Sam McCain he had been drafted to fight the war in Vietnam. But Sam's military career ended in boot camp when he was accidentally shot in the head and forced to spend three months in a military hospital to recover.
Sam returns to his hometown of Black River Falls, where he works as a lawyer (and part-time investigator) for the court of the snobbish but amusing Judge Esme Ann Whitney.
Sam returns to his hometown of Black River Falls, where he works as a lawyer (and part-time investigator) for the court of the snobbish but amusing Judge Esme Ann Whitney.
Two of Sam's oldest friends are caught up in this same battle. Veteran Steve Donovan brutally belittles and finally savagely beats his old friend veteran Will Cullen when Cullen announces he's joined the anti-war group.
When Cullen is found murdered, the obvious suspect is Steve Donovan, but Sam has serious doubts about the man's guilt. At least three people had reasons to murder Cullen, and Sam begins to suspect he'll discover even more as his investigation heats up, in this dynamic new politically charged mystery novel by a veteran of the form.