It’s 1965 in Black River Falls, Iowa, and a war in Vietnam has claimed a few residents from that small town. This is the background for TICKET TO RIDE, the newest in Ed Gorman’s Sam McCain series, which finds McCain at opposite ends of people’s opinions, as usual.
In particular, his being part of an anti-war protest riles up a few of the citizens — namely, Lou Bennett, who rides roughshod over the town to the point he interrupts the protest, only to be shouted down, which he does not at all take lightly. Then, like a good mystery, Bennett is murdered, with an eyewitness placing an outsider by the name of Harrison Doran as his killler.
Doran is arrested, and McCain is forced into defending him. Doran claims to be Yale-educated, friends with Joan Baez, and an associate of Norman Mailer. The problem is, it’s all a lie. He fesses up to it and thinks all his “exploits” will make a great book. As soon as you can sing “Love Me Do,” another body turns up, pretty much meaning that Doran could not be the killer.
But Doran wants nothing to prove his innocence, since it would destroy plans for his book. As McCain figures out, these two killings might be connected. Even worse, they might go further back in the town’s history, and more people might wind up dead.
Gorman thrives on these small-town mysteries, where everyone knows one another and we watch them deal with the city’s changing times, be it the British Invasion that a media-seeking minister is up in arms about, or a solider returning from Vietnam who sees war protesters as commies. Gorman’s writing never goes for shock, slowly building all the clues for readers to follow. Also, the villains are not the over-the-top types that permeate most of today’s mysteries.
The author has fun throwing in enough of his influences into characters’ lives, with discussions of things such as Jim Thompson and Robert Heinlein. Once the case is closed, the town will never be the same; to quote a Bob Dylan lyric, “The times they are a-changin’.” One can only wonder what time frame McCain will pop into next. I’ll be waiting for the next installment from this solid series, whose character grows with each novel. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING DETECTIVE AND 19 OF THE YEAR’S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES edited by by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg
• AMERICAN PULP edited by Ed Gorman, Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg
• BLACK RIVER FALLS by Ed Gorman
• DEAN KOONTZ’S FRANKENSTEIN: BOOK TWO – CITY OF NIGHT by Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman
• DIFFERENT KINDS OF DEAD AND OTHER TALES by Ed Gorman
• FOOLS RUSH IN by Ed Gorman
• GHOST TOWN by Ed Gorman
• GRAVES’ RETREAT by Ed Gorman
• GUNSLINGER AND NINE OTHER ACTION-PACKED STORIES OF THE WILD WEST by Ed Gorman
• INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: A TRIBUTE edited by Kevin McCarthy and Ed Gorman
• THE MIDNIGHT ROOM by Ed Gorman
• OUT THERE IN THE DARKNESS: THE COLLECTED ED GORMAN – VOLUME ONE by Ed Gorman
• A PRISONER OF MEMORY AND 24 OF THE YEAR’S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg
• SLEEPING DOGS by Ed Gorman
• THE WIDOW OF SLANE AND SIX MORE OF THE BEST CRIME AND MYSTERY NOVELLAS OF THE YEAR edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg
• WOLF MOON by Ed Gorman
• WOLF WOMAN BAY AND NINE MORE OF THE FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY NOVELLAS OF THE YEAR edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg
Related posts:
- Fools Rush In
- Sleeping Dogs
- The Midnight Room
- A Prisoner of Memory and 24 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories
- The Widow of Slane and Six More of the Best Crime and Mystery Novellas of the Year
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t know why it took me so long but I just recently discovered Gorman and in the past few months I’ve probably devoured at least 15 of his books. Of his numerous series I’d have to say the Leo Guild novels are my favorite, some of the best westerns I’ve read. But the McCain series is a close second. The mystery element in these books seems like a hook to hang the plot on rather than being the main element of the plot. What’s really a joy is the town itself and the regular characters–McCain, the judge, the sheriff, McCain’s hilariously incompetent secretary, and the various women in McCain’s complicated love life. This new one is the only one I haven’t read, and I can’t wait to get to it. I grew up (as Gorman probably did) in this late 50s-early 60s era, and Gorman absolutely nails it.
As good a novelist as Gorman is, I think he’s a master of the short story.