Sam McCain investigates the murder of a friend involved in an anti–Vietnam War group in this thrilling series finale by the Shamus Award–winning author. Iowa, 1971. When we last encountered Sam McCain, in author Ed Gorman's "absorbing mystery" Ticket to Ride, he had been drafted to fight the war in Vietnam ( Booklist). But Sam's military career ended in boot camp when he was accidentally shot in the head and forced to spend three months recovering at a military hospital. Now Sam's back in Black River Falls, where he works as a lawyer and investigator, just in time to witness two of his oldest friends come to blows. Veteran Steve Donovan savagely beats his friend and fellow veteran Will Cullen when Will joins an antiwar group. Then Will is found murdered and Steve becomes the primary suspect. But there are others in Black River Falls with reason to want Will dead. And Sam suspects he'll discover even more before his investigation is over.