Fools Rush In: A Sam McCain Mystery (Sam McCain Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Ed Gorman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sam McCain Mysteries | Publication Date: March 1, 2007

"Sam McCain is the kind of hero any small town could take to its heart."-Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

In America's heartland, Sam seeks justice for a black college student who's found dead in a car trunk at the drive-in, while thousands gather in the nation's capital for the March on Washington with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of Gorman's engaging seventh civil rights–era whodunit (after 2004's Breaking Up Is Hard to Do), PI Sam McCain goes looking for a blackmailer and finds him dead alongside one of his blackmail victims, dynamic black college student David Leeds. David had been dating the white daughter of a senator, a major scandal in 1963 Black River Falls, Iowa. Given the pervasive climate of racial strife, there's no shortage of suspects, including a racist biker gang and the daughter's bully of an ex-boyfriend. McCain discovers other compromising photographs and a wad of cash indicating further blackmail victims, one of whom may have been driven to murder. The town's inept police chief warns McCain off the case, but the new district attorney, a young, attractive no-nonsense woman, lends invaluable support. While evoking the quiet ordinariness of the time with nostalgia, Gorman realistically portrays the small town's mixed response to the exploding national demand for long overdue justice. (May)
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From Booklist

Black River Falls, Iowa, 1963: the violence of the civil-rights era lurks behind the double murder of a Peeping Tom photographer and a handsome black lothario, David Leeds, who was dating the daughter of a white Republican senator. Young Sam McCain, a lawyer and sometime private detective, is on the case. Motives are widespread. The senator was having an affair. Local bikers hated Leeds' success with a white woman to whom they could never aspire. The photographer was a blackmailer, and the white ex-boyfriend of the senator's daughter was a violent bully. Sam McCain is cut from the same cloth as Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder and Bill Pronzini's "Nameless"--series heroes who change as time passes. The sweet, nonviolent, naive young man we met in the series debut (The Day the Music Died, 1999) is now comfortable pistol-whipping a witness. Readers unfamiliar with this fine series should hop onboard now and watch as an Iowa Mr. Marple starts to behave like a cornbelt Spenser. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Pegasus Books (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933648325
• ISBN-13: 978-1933648323
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,687,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another wonderful discovery ..., March 30, 2009

By 

Charlie Stella (Fords, New Joisey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fools Rush In: A Sam McCain Mystery (Sam McCain Mysteries) (Paperback)

Ed Gorman is a legend in the crime writing world and I was fortunate enough to finally meet his work the other day. I'm a sucker for nostalgia and Fools Rush In is boat-loaded with our recent American past as the story takes place in 1963 Iowa. It's a trip that weaves indirectly through civil rights era issues as a black man dating a white woman lurks in the background to murder (no spoilers here). It's a small town in the midst of a changing American landscape and some people don't like change. There are Republicans and Democrats in the mix and the author does a great job of being fair and balanced (listening Fox news/MSNBC?) by not demonizing either.

A lesson long ago learned (for me) on the streets (and through life) is that there are two sides to every story ... and somewhere in the middle is the truth. Although I'm not a big fan of PI novels in general, this one does more than justice to the genre with clever writing, spot on dialogue and that great baseline of 1963 America that makes the read both fun and interesting. This, I believe, is #5 in the McCain series for the author ... which makes me anxious to look back at #'s 1-4.

We should all READ, amici ... every chance we get ... Fools Rush In makes it easy to do so ... it's a pleasure. READ it ...

3.0 out of 5 stars Fools Rush In: A Review, August 16, 2010

By 

James L. Thane (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fools Rush In: A Sam McCain Mystery (Sam McCain Mysteries) (Paperback)

Ed Gorman's long-running series featuring Sam McCain, a somewhat naive, small town Iowa attorney and sometime private detective, has now advanced to 1963. In the South, the civil rights crusade is gathering momentum and in Black River Falls, Iowa, a black student named David Leeds has created a furor by dating the daughter of a white Republican Senator.

When Leeds is found murdered along with a white photographer, there is no shortage of suspects. Any number of Iowans, including the Senator who is running for re-election, were furious with Leeds. The bumbling police chief hasn't a clue and so McCain enters the fray.

Despite the violence, this is a gentle, nostalgic series that attempts to recapture the mood of an earlier, less complicated era. Even though we are now in the increasingly turbulent sixties, McCain is still the same innocent likeable guy he was in "The Day The Music Died," the series debut from a number of years ago. McCain's caught up in the music and the culture of the age and his love life reflects the standards of a different era. It's fun to watch him investigate the crime, although it's hard to take his "investigation" very seriously, but the real enjoyment of these books lies in the era that they evoke.

4.0 out of 5 stars FOOLS RUSH IN by Ed Gorman, July 19, 2008

By 

Benjamin Boulden (The High Desert) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fools Rush In: A Sam McCain Mystery (Sam McCain Mysteries) (Hardcover)

It was the winter of 2002 that I discovered Ed Gorman's Sam McCain series--I found a copy of WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW?, the third novel in the series, at Borders one afternoon. I read it, loved it, and quickly went on an expedition to find the first two novels in the series. Since then there have been four additional Sam McCain novels and one novella. I've read each of them at least once, and I just read the most recent addition to the series: FOOLS RUSH IN.

It's 1963. The civil rights movement is charging across the country. The townspeople of Black River Falls, Iowa are concerned about the tumultuous changes that are happening across the country, but their town has been insulated from the turmoil until a young black man is murdered. His name is David Leeds, and he is a motivated, attractive, and well-liked young man who is attending University in Cedar Rapids, and scandalously dating the daughter of a local Senator.

Sam is again heralded into action by Judge Whitney--the last of the gentrified Whitney family who came to Black River Falls in the 1860s after a disagreement with the Treasury department sent them running from the East coast. He is ordered to find out who killed David Leeds and stop Cliff Sykes, the incompetent local Sheriff, from fouling the investigation. Sam quickly finds himself in a mystery that goes beyond mere racism--he does discover plenty of hate, but he also finds corruption, blackmail, fear, and even a little love.

FOOLS RUSH IN is darker than the previous entries in the series. We find Sam in a new world--the beautiful Pamela Forrest is gone, Mary has returned to her husband and Sam feels himself getting a little older. His father is ill and his world is changing. He is still a wiseacre, philosopher, pulp reader, part-time lawyer, and part-time private eye, but the world is changing around him. Or maybe better said, he is losing his youth and his vision of the world is changing.

The mystery is top-notch. Mr. Gorman gives enough false leads to keep the reader guessing at what is happening, and when the climax arrived I was surprised by who did what, and why. I enjoyed FOOLS RUSH IN a whole lot. It is a worthy addition to one of the better private eye series still being produced, and I hope--oh how I hope!--there is another story or two still waiting to see print. But if there isn't, FOOLS RUSH IN isn't a bad title to go out with.

Ben Boulden, Gravetapping