Breaking Up Is Hard to Do : A Sam McCain Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Strong and engaging mystery
Review: It's 1962, Russia and the U.S. are lurching toward war over the Cuban Missile Crisis, and detective/lawyer Sam McCain two strange offers in one day. First, a stranger offers him way too much money to deliver a package. Second, one of the Iowa town's rich men--a candidate for Governor, hires Sam to take a look in his bomb shelter. It turns out that the two offers are interconnected--the dead body in the bomb shelter is the woman Sam was supposed to deliver the package to. The police have no problems with the case--the candidate must have killed his mistress. But Sam knows that reality is often more complicated than the police let on.

Sam mixes noire detective grit with a bit of sensitivity as he tries to track down other candidates for the murder--and there are plenty. The evil brother and the dead woman's other boyfriends are additional candidates. When he's not busy detecting, he tries to straighten out his own life. The woman he always loved is thinking about getting a divorce--and is interested in Sam for the first time. Adding to the complexity, the woman who was always in love with Sam is getting a divorce too--and she wants Sam too. Then there's the candidate's pretty daughter. It makes for an interesting life.

Author Ed Gorman brings the early 1960s to life in a convincing but sympathetic manner. Small-town bousterism, hypocritical morality, and narrow-minded snobbery are all there, but so is a certain warmth and caring--heightened by the impending end of the world that the Cuban crisis threatens.

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO mixes some nice twists with engaging characters and some insights into the world--pretty good for a short detective mystery. I recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: You can always depend on Gorman for a good read!
Review: The time, October 1962. The place, Black River Falls, Iowa.

Summoned to gubernatorial candidate Ross Murdoch's mansion, Sam McCain, attorney and part time private investigator, doesn't know what to expect. Upon McCain's arrival, Murdoch instructs him to proceed to a newly constructed bomb shelter beneath the house. There, Sam finds a woman's body. Judging by the marks on her neck, he concludes she's been strangled.

Proclaiming his innocence, Murdoch nervously brings McCain up to speed. The woman is Karen Hastings, a recent arrival in town. Hastings came there at the insistence of Murdoch and three other prominent Black River Falls citizens, who, infatuated with the young woman, moved her to town, set her up in an apartment, then shared her sexual favors. Although McCain has four prime suspects, he soon discovers that the waters are far murkier and more dangerous than anticipated.

Typical of Gorman's work, Breaking Up proved a quick, satisfying read. An appealing narrator, McCain provides a lively commentary on events; it's always entertaining to visit with him, if only to see how he's handling the problems that arise in his clients' lives, and, more amusingly, in his own life. Sporting a colorful supporting cast, the books are also interesting because they make reference to then current events--this time, the Cuban Missile Crisis provides a sobering backdrop to the action, almost making small town murder seem mundane in comparison. Six books into McCain's saga, the series remains fresh, showing little sign of fatigue.

Rating:
Summary: You can always depend on Gorman for a good read!
Review: The time, October 1962. The place, Black River Falls, Iowa.

Summoned to gubernatorial candidate Ross Murdoch's mansion, Sam McCain, attorney and part time private investigator, doesn't know what to expect. Upon McCain's arrival, Murdoch instructs him to proceed to a newly constructed bomb shelter beneath the house. There, Sam finds a woman's body. Judging by the marks on her neck, he concludes she's been strangled.

Proclaiming his innocence, Murdoch nervously brings McCain up to speed. The woman is Karen Hastings, a recent arrival in town. Hastings came there at the insistence of Murdoch and three other prominent Black River Falls citizens, who, infatuated with the young woman, moved her to town, set her up in an apartment, then shared her sexual favors. Although McCain has four prime suspects, he soon discovers that the waters are far murkier and more dangerous than anticipated.

Typical of Gorman's work, Breaking Up proved a quick, satisfying read. An appealing narrator, McCain provides a lively commentary on events; it's always entertaining to visit with him, if only to see how he's handling the problems that arise in his clients' lives, and, more amusingly, in his own life. Sporting a colorful supporting cast, the books are also interesting because they make reference to then current events--this time, the Cuban Missile Crisis provides a sobering backdrop to the action, almost making small town murder seem mundane in comparison. Six books into McCain's saga, the series remains fresh, showing little sign of fatigue.