Local Iowans and the national press corps crowd the front yard of Roswell Garst's farmhouse in Black River Falls. Gathered this Monday in September 1959 for the much-publicized visit of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, many brandish signs shouting BETTER DEAD THAN RED. The next day that slogan assumes a prophetic truth for Richard Conners, a high-profile leftist political writer. He turns up dead at the office of fledgling lawyer and private investigator Sam McCain with a hammer and sickle painted on his forehead. Everyone surmises Conners was killed for his politics...but McCain is not so sure.
This isn't my favorite series, but isn't bad. I think what I find off-putting is how much the author wants you to know when it took place because every page seems to have some pop culture reference from that time or such. I get it, Elvis was a singer at that time, let it go!
No comments:
Post a Comment