In this charming, expertly crafted new mystery set in the twilight of Iowa's 1950s, fledgling lawyer Sam McCain is dancing to a different tune when he discovers that the beautiful blonde who's been tracking him in her black Ford convertible is interested in more than his red ragtop. She's Lila Leigh Mulchaey, and McCain's in love. Two problems, though, darken McCain's mood: Lila is pregnant, and Philip Mulchaey, her father-an outspoken advocate of left-wing causes who'd been fired from his job in the State Department during the McCarthy trials-stands at the centre of the political storm surrounding the upcoming visit of Nikita Eruschev to Iowa. Then Philip Mulchaey turns up dead. That he was murdered for his politics, everybody, including McCain's sometime employer, the imperious Judge Esme Anne Whitney, assumes McCain, however, is nor so sure. Murder's usually more personal in Black River Falls.