Sam McCain (aka “Cody McCain”)

Created by Ed Gorman
Pseudonyms include Richard Driscoll, Chris Shea McCarrick, Daniel Ransom, E.J. Gorman, Edward Gorman Jr. & Robert David Chase
(1941-2016)

In the late fifties, rookie attorney SAM McCAIN finds himself in Black River Falls, Iowa, the “least successful lawyer” in a “a town that already had too many lawyers.” So he agrees–reluctantly, at first– to work as an investigator for Esme Anne Whitney, a rich, eccentric wingding of a lady judge with some rather peculiar ideas about justice and the law.

That’s the scenario outlined in the first book in this rewarding and addictive series, 1999’s The Day The Music Died, which also revolves around Buddy Holly’s final concert, before his fatal plane crash. This melding of then-current events, their effect on a small town and the call-outs to the era’s rock songs as book titles boded well for what promised to be an intriguing new series–or at least that’s what I said at the time. Well, I’m happy to report it’s an omen that has definitely come to pass.

The always affable Sam may be no tough guy, but he gets the job done, and Gorman’s eye for detail and easy hand with characterisation, and the compassion he never fails to show for his characters made this series an always entertaining comfort read, even as the books progressed from the smooth, easy-going comfort zone and almost giddy innocence of the small town fifties into the decidedly more fractious sixties. Just a glance at titles of the sixties-set novels (Bad Moon Rising, Riders in the Storm) lets you know the times, they are a–well, you know what those times do.

THE NAME GAME

In the earliest short stories, Sam’s first name was Cody and the Judge’s was Eleanor. Possibly for copyright reasons?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author Ed Gorman is a veteran mystery and western writer, editor and anthologist, who’s also responsible for the excellent Jack Dwyer and Jack Walsh P.I. series, among others.

UNDER OATH

• “Sam McCain is the kind of hero any small town could take to its heart.”
  —Marilyn Stasio (The New York Times Book Review)

NOVELS

• The Day the Music Died (1999) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Wake Up Little Susie (2000) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (2001) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Save the Last Dance For Me (2002) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool (2002) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (2004) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Fools Rush In (2007) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Ticket to Ride (2009) | Buy this book |  Kindle it!
• Bad Moon Rising (2012) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Riders on the Storm (2014) | Buy this book | Buy the audio

SHORT STORIES

• “The Christmas Kitten” (January 1997, EQMM; Cody McCain & Judge Eleanor Whitney)
• “Wake Up, Little Suzie” (1997,Funny Bones; Cody McCain & Judge Eleanor Whitney)
• “Heartbreaker” (March 2002, EQMM; Cody McCain & Judge Eleanor Whitney)
• “The Santa Claus Murders” (2003, Crooks, Crimes, and Christmas) | Buy this book

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.