With the nation's eye on Black River Falls, McCain chases a snake handler's killer

Fundamentalist preacher John Muldaur isn't afraid of snakes—he uses them every week in his services—but he's convinced that the Pope is trying to kill him. Iowa lawyer Sam McCain, the poorest attorney in a thriving town, listens patiently to the self-declared reverend's outlandish theories about being targeted by a papal hit squad, and agrees to investigate the matter simply to get Muldaur out of his office. But that night at a wild religious service, McCain sees Muldaur proven right. The holy man is killed by poison—not from one of his rattlesnakes, but from a Pepsi bottle laced with strychnine.

On the campaign trail for president, Vice President Nixon is on his way to town to make a speech, and McCain is asked to find Muldaur's killer before the national media arrives. What he finds is a conspiracy just as improbable as the Catholic hit men—but far more deadly.