Save the Last Dance for Me: A Sam McCain Mystery (Hardcover)

by Ed Gorman (Author) "YOU HEAR THEM, MCCAIN?..." (more)
Key Phrases: snake cage, Sara Hall, Bill Oates, Kenny Thibodeau (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Shamus-winner Gorman's fourth nostalgia-ridden Sam McCain novel (after The Day the Music Died), set in Black River Falls, Iowa (pop. 27,300), during the summer of 1960, has to rank as one of the more good-natured mysteries in memory. His wouldn't-hurt-a-fly but much abused hero, a part-time lawyer and part-time PI, gets hired by the town judge to investigate the murder of John Muldaur, a local fundamentalist preacher who used live rattlesnakes to test the "purity" of his flock, after someone doses the preacher's bottle of Pepsi with strychnine. When he wasn't sleeping with the wife of one of his congregation, Muldaur was conducting a vigorous campaign to expose the conspiracy of Zionists and Roman Catholics to take over the world. Gorman has a lot of fun at the expense of his half-witted bigots. McCain's orders are to find Muldaur's killer before the arrival of presidential candidate Richard Nixon, who's on a campaign tour and due to deliver a speech in Black River Falls. A stupid sheriff and the fanatical hillbillies who revere Muldaur's name don't make McCain's task any easier. Gorman delivers an intelligent and plausible solution to the crime, while the killer proves to be an unexpected but logical choice good for a goose bump or two. If the book's a bit thin on substance, it's a fast read with the best cast of comical country characters this side of Dogpatch.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Richard Nixon is running for president, and one of his campaign stops will be Black River Falls, Iowa. The only reason the visit is of any concern at all to young attorney Sam McCain--whose personal politics register considerably to the left of the vice president's--is that the county's leading Republican is Judge Esme Ann Whitney, who is also Sam's boss and sole source of income in his part-time capacity as an investigator. When John Muldaur, a snake-handling preacher dies of poisoning, Judge Whitney directs Sam to investigate, determined that the case be solved by the time Nixon and the national media hit town. When another local preacher is also murdered, Sam's hopes of a quick resolution dissipate. The fourth McCain mystery is another dead-on perfect journey to the underside of the late '50s and early '60s, exposing the anti-intellectualism and anti-Semitism that lurked beneath the era's placid surface. Another strong entry in a thoroughly enjoyable series. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 1st Carroll & Graf Ed edition (February 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786709685
• ISBN-13: 978-0786709687
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #958,392 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Snakes, politics, sex, and murder in a small Iowa town., August 10, 2002

By	Steven R. Harbin (Southeastern USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the 4th of Gorman's "Sam McCain" mysteries set in a town called Black River Falls, Iowa during the "happy days" of the late 1950's and early 60's. Of course, they weren't always that happy, filled as they are in this story with religious prejudice, murder, bigotry, infidelity, and mysterious goings on. McCain is a likeable character, and Gorman does a good job of letting us get to know him in this and the other novels of the series. Young, idealistic, liberal, cynical, unlucky-in-love, as well as shorter than most of the other male population in town, McCain works for the enigmatic, larger than life Judge Esme Ann Whitney, a cynical, Republican, aristocratic scion of the town who regularly hires the young Sam (a lawyer with an private-eye license) to investigate any crimes or murders which might cast Black River Falls in a negative light. The fact that Judge Whitney and the local sheriff are mutual enemies usually complicates both McCain's sleuthing and life in general.

In SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME, it is August, 1960. Presidential candidate Richard Nixon is coming to visit the town at the same time that a charismatic bigoted preacher has just been murdered (literally) while in the pulpit. McCain's assignment is to solve the crime of this unlikeable man's demise, even though no one involved seems to want to help him. The man's family, congregation, local law enforcement and a cage of "holy" rattlesnakes all figure prominently, as does a beautiful local reporter who is having problems in her marriage. I read the first 3 books before I read this one, but it isn't necessary to do so, as Gorman writes each book in the series with enough of McCain's musings about the past to explain who the important characters are in both the town and his personal life. SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME stands alone very well on it's own, although it will probably make you want to go out and read the others in the series. 5 Stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McCain's Back and Better than Ever....., February 18, 2002

By	Roz Levine (Virginia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

It's the summer of 1960 in Black River Falls, Iowa, and Richard Nixon, on the campaign trail for president, is scheduled to stop in this little mid-western burg for a speech and reception. Fledgling lawyer and part-time private investigator, Sam McCain's boss, town heavy, Judge Esme Ann Whitney, is hosting the Vice President's visit, and she wants her town to shine like the middle American jewel it is. Unfortunately, the murder of a local snake-handling, Jew and Catholic hating, fundamentalist preacher, tends to put a real damper on the judge's plans. Police Chief, Cliffie Sykes, is totally useless in the crime solving department, so she orders McCain to get to work, and clear up this nasty case before Nixon's arrival. "My Lord, we'll look like hillbillies. Snakes and Ozark faith healers. Good grief." But before he can even begin his investigation a second murder takes place, the local Protesant minister is gunned down in his garage. McCain's convinced these two crimes are related, and as he begins to dig, secrets start popping up all over town..... Ed Gorman is back with another delightful and nostalgic romp through yesteryear, with his well drawn, wacky and quirky cast of intriguing, original characters. His fast-paced plot really captures the essence of the '50s, and is entertaining, and full of marvelously vivid, laugh-out-loud scenes. But it's Mr Gorman's witty writing and wise-cracking, irreverent dialogue that really makes this novel stand out. Save The Last Dance For Me is short, sweet, engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable from the first page to the satisfying last. If you're new to Sam McCain and company, start at the beginning with The Day The Music Died, and read them all. If you're already a fan, Ed Gorman doesn't disappoint with his latest installment. This is a series that just keeps getting better and better.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Snakes in church and America in 1960, January 12, 2002

By	booksforabuck "BooksForABuck.com" (Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Sam McCain, attorney and sometimes investigator for Judge Esme Whitney, thinks that he's seen a lot--but he's never seen a church full of people sticking their hands in a box of rattlesnakes before. When the church's minister dies suddenly, everyone thinks one of the snakes got him--but McCain suspects murder. When a second minister suddenly dies, he's certain there is a connection, but exactly what the connection is, and who might be doing the killing remains unclear. In the meantime, McCain has to learn to deal with the strong attraction he feels toward married Kylie Burke.

SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME is set in small-town Iowa during the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon election and Nixon's upcoming visit is very much on the minds of the characters. The conservatives in town are worried about Catholics and Jews uniting to overthrow the nation if Kennedy is elected, and jazz and rock and roll are hitting their stride. Author Ed Gorman presents this earlier America not as a nostalgic dream, nor as a nightmare, but as a past that is well left behind.

Gorman does a fine job developing Sam McCain as an interesting and multidimensional character. His writing style is enjoyable and compelling. It'll make you want to keep reading. I found some of Gorman's observations to be a little cynical and condescending for my taste, but this didn't keep me from laughing out loud a couple of times or from enjoying SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME.