The Day the Music Died by Ed Gorman

The Day the Music Died by Ed Gorman is the first in a 10-novel series about lawyer/investigator Sam McCain. Gorman is a very prolific author who has never been reviewed in this blog. I saw a recommendation for the 10^th book in the series from one of MRB’s favorite authors, Charlie Stella, who has never written anything or recommended any books that disappointed. I thought I’d jump in from the start of the series, but I was disappointed. It was not the specific book that Stella recommended, so his record is intact. The McCain character is interesting, but the story that surrounded him in The Day the Music Died was not very good. I didn’t find the characters (Judge Esme Anne Whitney, the police chief Cliffie Sykes, etc.) to be particularly believable, and I nearly stopped reading it at the 1/3 mark. But, I was curious about McCain and kept on. Of course, it’s a murder mystery and Gorman has an appealing understated quality to his writing style, but I won’t write any more about this book. I have a category called “airplane books” which is defined as something that would be entertaining enough for a cross country flight, but not one that is so spellbinding that it would prevent a nap, and it wouldn’t break your heart if you left it unfinished on the plane. This one does not quite rise to that level. On Stella’s say so, sometime down the road, maybe I’ll try the 10^th book, Riders on the Storm.