Ticket to Ride by Ed Gorman, 357 pages

For small-town Iowa lawyer Sam McCain the year is 1965 is not a sweet one. His father is gravely ill. His elitist boss is just coming out of rehab. The brilliant lawyer he hoped to start a relationship with has gone back to her husband in Chicago. And the first young soldier from Black River Falls returns home from Vietnam in a coffin. Still, McCain tires to enjoy himself during the town's Labor Day weekend party, reuniting with several old friends-until two of them are murdered for what seems to be a motive buried in the past.