Kirjahaku

Right up until they put him in jail, McKenzie thought the cops were kidding. After all, he did them a favor by stopping a rookie cop from roughing up a distraught woman at a murder scene. But the next thing he knows, he's in jail, missing an important date with his girlfriend and reliving nightmares he thought he had left far behind him--and vowing payback for all of it. If that means sticking his nose into an ongoing murder investigation, well, he's done it before.Only what appears to be a straightforward case of a cheating boyfriend, his alcoholic girlfriend, and an opportune baseball bat proves far more complicated than the police are willing to accept. More disconcerting, as he investigates, McKenzie finds himself fighting the influence of a shadowy figure who controls more of what goes on in the Twin Cities than a rational voter would believe. Then there are the unidentified thugs who kill a witness and rough up him and his female lawyer ally. Soon McKenzie realizes that the truth of this sordid crime may be as hard to find--and as hard to live with--as the justice he seeks.

During one of the first heavy snows of the winter, on the Interstate outside the Twin Cities, Rushmore McKenzie is behind a truck behaving erratically when the man in the truck bed dumps a body out onto the road, right in front of McKenzie's car. McKenzie avoids hitting the body, a bound woman who is just barely alive, but his stopped car in the middle of the road starts a chain of accidents, resulting in a thirty-seven car pile-up. By the time the police arrive, and the EMTs and ambulances have taken care of the immediate injuries, the truck is long gone.The injured woman awakens with no memories--not of the accident, not of anything--and is labeled by the police as Unidentified Woman #15. With few leads, the detective in charge, McKenzie's former partner and old friend Bobby Dunston, turns to McKenzie for a favor. Now McKenzie has to try to identify the grievously injured woman and find out who tied her up and dumped her on the freeway to die. And why.

Five prominent attorneys in Minneapolis have had their computer systems hacked and very sensitive case files stolen. Those attorneys are then contacted by an association of local whistleblowers known as NIMN and are quietly alerted that they have received those documents from an anonymous source. If those files are released, then not only will those lawyers be ruined, but it might even destroy the integrity of the entire Minnesota legal system. This group of lawyers turns to Private Investigator Holland Taylor with a simple directive: stop the disclosure any way you can. But while the directive is simple, the case is not. To find the missing files and the person responsible, Holland must first dive into the five cases covered in the files - divorce, bribery, class action, rape, and murder. While Taylor is untangling the associates and connections between the cases and families affected, things take another mysterious turn and time is running out. As the situation becomes more threatening, Holland Taylor is trapped in the middle of what is legal and what is ethical - between right, wrong, and deadly.

After taking down a man wielding an AR-15 a small town winery, Rushmore McKenzie has to find out who, if anyone, was the shooter's target before he, or someone else, tries again. Once a police detective in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rushmore McKenzie, after becoming an unexpected millionaire, now is an unlicensed private investigator, doing the occasional investigative favor. Off on a weekend getaway to northwestern Wisconsin, McKenzie, with a group of five, including his childhood friend and current police detective Bobby Dunston, stop off at a local winery. When a man walks up carrying an AR-15, which he raises, props the butt against his shoulder, and sights down the barrel - but before he can do anything, Bobby Dunston yells 'gun' and he and McKenzie take the man down. The would-be shooter was arrested, and normally, that would be the end of it. But Wisconsin is an open carry state and the police can't prove that the gunman was intended to do anything. But it does appear that he might have been looking for one specific target. And, if so, that person is not out of danger. Now, before the gunman is released, McKenzie decides to find out who was the real target and why, before it is too late.

A stolen dinosaur skull is at the center of a complex mystery laid at the feet of unofficial P.I. Rushmore McKenzie.There are two things that Rushmore McKenzie hates to turn down--a request from a friend and a challenge. Both of them show up in his wife's nightclub in the person of Angela Bjork, who has come to request McKenzie's help. McKenzie, once a homicide detective, now through a series of unlikely events, is a retired millionaire. But occasionally, for friends, he will do some unofficial private detective work. Over the years, he's hunted down a stolen Stradivarius, the hoard of 1930's gangster, and recovered a stolen, apparently cursed, artifact but McKenzie never imagined a case like this. An exceedingly rare dinosaur skull has been stolen. Angela, a doctoral candidate, was out on a dig site in Southeastern Montana, when she found a skeleton of an Ankylosaurus. And no sooner than when the skull was removed and placed on a truck then they were attacked, the truck and skull stolen. Worried that nothing is being done to find the stolen skull, she turns to McKenzie. Worth millions on the black market, the chance to recover it becomes fainter by the day. And the people behind the theft are likely willing to do anything, to anyone, to hold onto it.

In David Housewright's next novel featuring the beloved Rushmore McKenzie What Doesn't Kill Us--McKenzie has been shot and lies in a coma while the police and his friends desperately try to find out what he was doing and who tried to kill him. Rushmore McKenzie, former St. Paul police detective and unexpected millionaire, does the occasional, unofficial private detective work--mostly favors for friends. He's faced kidnappers, domestic terrorists, art thieves, among others, and had a hand in solving some of the most perplexing mysteries of the Twin Cities. But this time, his prodigious luck and intuition may have finally failed him: He was shot in the back by an unknown assailant and lies in a coma. His childhood friend, Lt. Bobby Dunston of the St. Paul Police Department, assigns his best detective to the case while other figures--on both sides of the law--pursue the truth. What was McKenzie investigating, what did he learn that so threatened someone that they tried to kill him? What do a sketchy bar in the wrong part of town, the area's prominent tech millionaire family, drug dealers, investment bankers, and a mysterious woman who left an unknown package for McKenzie all have in common? As time slowly begins to run out, the answer to those questions might be what stands between life and death.

Once a homicide detective in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rushmore McKenzie is, through a series of unlikely events, both a millionaire and an occasional private investigator. As an unofficial PI, McKenzie only looks into the occasional situation for friends or friends of friends. Jeanette Carrell stretches McKenzie's guidelines but she's in a bind. She's been arrested, indicted, and about to go on trial for murder. The body of the victim was found buried in a shallow grave at the far edge of her property. The victim was not only a neighbor, he was real estate developer accused of tricking a man with dementia, a friend of Carrell's, into signing away his property for development, property that he'd worked to keep pristine. When the developer was last seen, Carrell was heard threatening to kill him. Even more damning, a potential witness swears she saw Carrell digging near the grave site shortly after the victim disappeared. The final nail in the proverbial coffin is her alibi--she has none. With all the evidence--motive and means and opportunity--pointing to her guilt, and precious little in her defense, perhaps the most confusing aspect is Carrell's calm attitude. Rushmore McKenzie is now faced with a challenging case--how to protect Carrell and unearth the truth of what really happened when all the circumstantial evidence is against her.

When his wife finds the body of an Army veteran in the lake, it is inevitable that former cop, now unofficial P.I. Rushmore McKenzie will get enmeshed in a complicated case of possible murder. It all starts with the body in the water--on what should be the first boat day of the season, McKenzie's wife Nina finds a dead Army vet. As the dock owner and the insurance companies claim that it was suicide, despite the deceased, E.J. Woods, having no obvious reason to kill himself, his widow starts acting suspiciously. McKenzie finds himself pulled into the fight when Naveah, the victim's daughter, convinced her father was murdered, asks him to investigate. Further complicating the situation are uncooperative boaters, allegations of PTSD, and the simple fact that there was no reason for E.J. to be in the water. McKenzie's investigation unearths not only the petty squabbles surrounding the lake and its dock, but details of her father's past that Naveah is perhaps better off not knowing. With Nina haunted by dreams of the body and the legal fight over cause of death becoming increasingly nasty, McKenzie may be the only one interested in finding justice for E.J.-- and uncovering the truth before another person dies.

Ex-St. Paul cop Rushmore McKenzie has more time and more money than he knows what to do with. In fact, when he's willing to admit it to himself (and usually he isn't), McKenzie is downright bored. Until he decides to do a favor for a friend facing a family tragedy: nine-year-old Stacy Carlson has been diagnosed with leukemia, and the only one with the matching bone marrow that can save her is her older sister Jamie. Trouble is, Jamie ran away from home years ago. McKenzie begins combing the backstreets of the Twin Cities, tracking down Jamie's last known associates only to discover that along with the expected pimps and drug dealers, Jamie was also a favorite of a violent street gang, arms smugglers, and Minnesota's moneyed elite. And as the body-count rises, he learns that what he's looking for--and why--are nothing like he had imagined. Praise for A HARD TICKET HOME: "I didn't so much read A Hard Ticket Home as inhale it. What a wonderful time I had. The action is superb, and the tour of the Twin Cities is a delight. I love Rushmore McKenzie. He's heroic, foolish, clever, vulnerable--and unapologetically nice. One more hardback I shall have to buy every year." --Nevada Barr, author of Hunting Season "The author has a sharp, bouncy prose style, and his story-about Mac's search for a friend's long-missing daughter who can possibly be a bone marrow donor for her younger sister-has some touching and exciting moments...A true son of Spenser." --Publishers Weekly "The hero of this action-packed novel is very human: sometimes a smart aleck, sometimes sensitive and vulnerable--and more than capable of pulling the trigger. A surprise at every turn." --Dallas Morning Star "Millionaire ex-cop rights wrongs pro-bono in an amiable throwback to Marlowe/Archer. Housewright has a keeper in McKenzie--tough, smart and sufficiently flawed to be entirely likeable." --Kirkus Review "David Housewright's McKenzie (you want his first name and the story behind it, it's in the book) is a smartaleck, wisecracking, two-fisted, soft-hearted and very human addition to the PI field. Get to know him--you'll be glad you did." --S.J. Rozan, author of Winter and Night "David Housewright has written a stunning novel. His prose is bone hard and beautiful, his story brutally dark, undeniably compelling, and in odd, unpredictable moments, quite funny. This is a guy who knows the human soul, and he lays it bare on every page." --William Kent Krueger, author of Blood Hollow "Another winner from David Housewright. Private investigator 'Mac' McKenzie is the quintessential lone crusader, and A Hard Ticket Home is the perfect example of the Great Modern American Detective Novel. Fans of Robert B. Parker, John D. McDonald, and Ross MacDonald will love this book." --Pete Hautmann, author of Doohickey

Mac McKenzie is rich. So rich that he's left his job as a Twin Cities police officer and spends his time doing favors large and small for friends. So when an old Marine buddy of his father's calls with a request Mac takes the time to help him out. And it is one of the stranger favors he's ever been asked: the elderly Mr. Mosley, a beekeeper, wants Mac to find out why his bees are suddenly dying in droves. Mac does some digging and before long turns up a hornet's nest of trouble in the person of Frank Crosetti, a new neighbor on the property abutting Mosley's bees. What started out as an innocent investigation into some unregulated pesticide quickly turns lethal. Crosetti sticks around long enough to make some very specific threats, then disappears into the wind leaving behind a vicious rape, a lifeless body, and a very angry McKenzie bursting for someone to blame. With only the faintest of trails to follow and a suspicious group of federal agents gunning for him, Mac dives underground, taking only a stash of cash and a small arsenal with him on his undercover mission. Before long Mac's deep in the forgotten corners of Minneapolis sniffing for any sign of Crosetti, unable to rest until he gets results. Praise for TIN CITY: "Channeling Raymond Chandler with tongue-in-cheek humor, Housewright delivers plenty of action, a pinch of romance and more than a few surprises." --Publisher's Weekly "This is a novel about going after the right guy for the wrong reasons, and the wrong guy for the right reasons. It's got twists and double-crosses, exciting car chases and gun battles, leavened by plenty of laughs --a noirish novel with emphasis on the ish." --Boston Globe "Housewright hits his stride in this second outing for good-hearted Minnesota tough guy Rushmore McKenzie... The smooth, straightforward action comes off without a hitch, lightly seasoned with a dash of introspection from a wry, self-assured hero who is a true pal to those in need and who charms ladies and librarians alike... This series may be seriously habit-forming. It's also a welcome selection for libraries where Robert Parker is popular, which is to say everywhere." --Booklist "Some lovely cadenced writing... along with smart narrative moves and bits of unfocused excess. Housewright is at his best when he stays closest to home. It's clear he's a Minnesotan in his bones, so his depiction of everything from beekeeping to the byways of Hilltop embeds us in a location where quiet indiscretions and desires highlight daily life... The author thickens the broth with big-city crime (New York City gang wars), national issues (terrorism and a frenzied FBI agent) and more than a showoff's worth of country-western music name-dropping. The result is an amiable and appealing novel..." --Washington Post "Tin City is a nicely crafted combination of procedural and character-driven crime story... It's fun for readers to share McKenzie's travels." --St. Paul Pioneer Press "Housewright is one of a crop of Minnesota crime writers whose new books draw on the state's personality quirks and beloved landmarks to flavor spine-tingling prose. Readers beware: It's not all snow cones and mini-doughnuts. Even as you smile with familiarity, you'll be looking over your shoulder... Mac is a likable protagonist. He's normal in a refreshing way that is rare among today's angst-ridden heroes. He should wear well as this series continues." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

Right up until they put him in jail, McKenzie thought the cops were kidding. After all, he did them a favor by stopping a rookie cop from roughing up a distraught woman at a murder scene. But the next thing he knows, he's in jail, missing an important date with his girlfriend, and reliving nightmares he thought he had left far behind him--and vowing payback for all of it. If that means sticking his nose into an ongoing murder investigation, well, he's done it before. Only what appears to be a straightforward case of a cheating boyfriend, his alcoholic girlfriend, and an opportune baseball bat proves far more complicated than the police are willing to accept. More disconcerting, as he investigates, McKenzie finds himself fighting the influence of a shadowy figure who controls more of what goes on in the Twin Cities than a rational voter would believe. Then there are the unidentified thugs who kill a witness and rough up him and his female lawyer ally. Soon McKenzie realizes that the truth of this sordid crime may be as hard to find--and as hard to live with--as the justice he seeks. Praise for DEAD BOYFRIENDS: "Former cop Rushmore McKenzie certainly won't run from a fight, but he also has a softer side: he is a firm believer in loyalty and love, and he is a sucker for the underdog. When he stops to help a woman he sees at the side of the road, he has no idea he'll be calling on all these character traits to unravel the truth about the woman, a grisly murder, a string of dead boyfriends, and a secret in her past... Housewright is terrific--funny, wry, and dead-on--which, along with some unexpected plot twists, gives this the sort of appeal that will have readers asking for the next book as well as ones that can fill in McKenzie's history." --Booklist "Once again, St. Paul's Saint George scatters the dragons who menace a damsel in distress." --Kirkus Reviews "David Housewright is one of my favorite mystery authors. I'd read a cereal box if he wrote it. I really like McKenzie's character and enjoy his determination and sense of loyalty. He's the guy in the white hat, seeking to preserve justice for all. And he's always willing to put himself in harm's way to accomplish his goals. No risk, no reward... Dead Boyfriends is a fun ride with twists enough to surprise everyone. Housewright's attention to the various Twin Cities locals is spot on and tremendous fun for those of us who live here. His characters are rich and complex, his plot intriguing and satisfying." --Armchair Reviews

Homicide cop Bobby Dunston's daughter has been kidnapped, taken in broad daylight on a city street in the middle of September. The kidnappers demand a million dollars and force Dunston to get the ransom from his friend Rushmore McKenzie. It soon becomes apparent to both of them that one of the kidnappers is childhood pal Scottie, a once aspiring drummer now gone astray, and that the kidnapping is payback for "crimes" they committed in their past. Of course McKenzie, a former cop and now unlicensed P.I., handles the ransom drop-off and the child is returned safely. But Scottie is soon brutally murdered (maybe that's Mac's fault and maybe it isn't) and someone takes out an open contract on McKenzie, using his own money to pay for it. Dodging attempts on his life from assassins of all shapes and sizes, McKenzie now has precious little time to uncover the mastermind behind it all if he's going to survive. Praise for MADMAN ON A DRUM: "Hate, revenge and old-fashioned greed propel Edgar-winner Housewright's stellar fifth mystery to feature former St. Paul, Minn., cop Rushmore McKenzie. Housewright's chivalric noir hero never fails to charm, whether mourning a St. Paul that's lost much of its colorful, if shady, past or busting a bestial dogfight entrepreneur out in the chilly countryside. Against a realistic Minnesota backdrop, this homage to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer raises cutting questions about crime and punishment and today's price of friendship and loyalty. Of course, McKenzie knows it's all about money, but Housewright makes it so fresh and real it hurts." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "Housewright returns with another noir-tinged mystery starring St. Paul detective Rushmore McKenzie. Lots of narrative momentum and exciting scenes." --Booklist "McKenzie's subtle humor keeps the tension from boiling over, but don't expect any breaks in the action." --Minnesota Monthly

Frank "Jelly" Nash was dead. And since the notorious bank robber was shot in the head in 1933 during a daring escape attempt, he was deader than most. So why was he sending letters and emails to Rushmore McKenzie, asking the retired cop, unexpected millionaire, and unlicensed P.I. for help? To answer the question, McKenzie joins forces with Ivy, a beautiful woman from his past--and her boyfriend--in a frantic search for $8 million in gold that Jelly stole just before his death. But they aren't the only ones looking. So are a couple of two-bit thugs, a woman named Heavenly, a local big-wig with much to hide, and an odd assortment of ne'er-do-wells. The search delves deeply into St. Paul, Minnesota's colorful and infamous past as the treasure-seekers scurry for clues. In the early 20th century, St. Paul was an open city--a place where gangsters could come and stay unmolested by the local authorities as long as they committed no crimes within the city limits. John Dillinger, Bugsy Siegel, Ma Barker's murderous brood, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, notorious gunman Vern Miller, and yes, Frank Nash, were often spotted frequenting the city's clubs and casinos, and their activities are carefully examined as the rivals dual each other. The treasure hunt turns unexpectedly deadly when the boyfriend is shot dead outside of Ivy's apartment. Suddenly, McKenzie is looking for more than a legendary stash from seventy-five years ago, he's looking for a stone killer and the long-hidden truth behind Jelly's gold. Praise for JELLY'S GOLD: "In Edgar-winner Housewright's enjoyable sixth novel to feature Rushmore McKenzie readers get a dual treat as the likable PI deals with a parade of present-day sharpies and gold hunters, while Housewright retells the story of the wholesale corruption that for decades made St. Paul a playground for a who's who of gangsters, including John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and others who hobnobbed with St. Paul's upper crust." --Publishers Weekly "Housewright not only writes a compelling historical mystery here, but also engages in reconstructive history, using contemporary accounts to trace Nash's movements in 1933. He also employs a nifty device to bring the history into the novel, careening between McKenzie and other seekers of the prize and Nash's own words cast into fictional form. Readers will learn a great deal of fascinating information, including the fact that Nash's nickname Jelly stands for his favorite safecracking device, nitroglycerin. Top notch." --Booklist, starred review "A clever entertainment driven by an amiable protagonist--Housewright's best in quite a while." --Kirkus Reviews "If you haven't discovered Housewright, you're in for a real treat--this is a real gem from one of America's best crime novelists." --Lansing State Journal

Rushmore McKenzie is a retired cop, an unexpected millionaire and, occasionally, an unlicensed private investigator. So, it isn't the biggest surprise in the world when he's attacked and kidnapped from his home--McKenzie has more than a few enemies out there with a grudge against him. But it is a surprise when it turns out his kidnapping is a case of mistaken identity. Bounty hunters grab McKenzie and take him to the small plains town of Libbie, South Dakota which just lost pretty much everything it had to a con man masquerading under McKenzie's name. Using a scam involving a planned new shopping mall, the grifter apparently emptied out the town's bank account before disappearing, leaving behind a devastated town full of people with many reasons to hate him. To that list of enemies, he's just added McKenzie who is now determined to catch the weasel besmirching his reputation. But the stolen money is just the tip of a deadly iceberg. McKenzie's manhunt soon reveals a web corruption that holds the entire town in its grip and threatens everything he holds dear. Praise for THE TAKING OF LIBBIE, SD: "Edgar-winner Housewright nicely confounds readers' expectations in his absorbing seventh hard-boiled mystery featuring ex-cop and millionaire Rushmore McKenzie... Crisp prose and clever plot developments help the chapters fly by and should win this deserving author a wider audience." --Publishers Weekly "McKenzie, who describes himself as a 'knight-errant doing favors for friends' (he's a retired cop with a lot of money so he doesn't need a day job), makes a fine series lead, charmingly unlikable in a likable sort of way, and the stories are solid mysteries with a hint of humor. A very enjoyable series that deserves a wider audience." --Booklist Online

Rushmore McKenzie is a former cop, current millionaire, and an occasional unlicensed P.I. who does favors for friends. Yet he has reservations when the daughter of his girlfriend Nina Truhler asks him to help her father, Nina's ex-husband Jason Truhler, a man in serious trouble. En route to a Canadian blues festival on Highway 61, he met a girl, blacked out, and awoke hours later in a strange motel room with the girl's murdered body on the floor. Slipping away unnoticed and heading home, he thought he got away with it--until he started getting texts with photos of the body and demands for blackmail money he couldn't afford to pay. McKenzie soon discovers that Truhler was set up in a modified honey trap. But Truhler's version of events wasn't exactly the truth, either. And McKenzie soon finds himself trapped in the middle of a very serious game involving teenage prostitution with some of the most powerful men in the state on one side and some of the deadliest on the other. Praise for HIGHWAY 61: "Rushmore McKenzie agrees to help Jason Truhler, the ex-husband of his lover, Nina Truhler, in Housewright's solid eighth novel featuring the Twin Cities ex-cop who occasionally does 'favors' for friends. Jason appears to be the victim of a variation on the badger game when he attended the Thunder Bay Blues Festival in Ontario. He woke the next morning in a cheap hotel room, naked, with a dead girl on the floor, lots of blood, and no memory--now he's being blackmailed for murder. Trying to unravel the scam leads McKenzie into a morass involving an Internet sex ring, drug dealers, a pair of thugs called Big Joe and Little Joe Stippel, arsonists called Backdraft and Bug, and some of the Twin Cities' most powerful people. The tenacious McKenzie bounces between cops, bad guys, and movers and shakers with a tenuous hold on legalities but a good grasp on ethics." --Publisher's Weekly "In his latest favor (see The Taking of Libbie, SD), Rushmore McKenzie is at his best as he muses over the outcome of good intentions in a caper that is too close to home. The story line is fast-paced as the hero figures out the motel game, but unprepared for the truth about Truhler. Instead of case closed, McKenzie finds deadly felons with ugly intent and even more lethal powerhouses with uglier intent targeting him. Readers will think twice before venturing on Highway 61." --Mystery Gazette "As the title would suggest, this novel proves to be one of author David Housewright's most fast-paced endeavors. The author consistently creates top-grade, expertly written mysteries. There's much to like about the delectably smart-alecky Rushmore McKenzie and his insider's take on The Cities. He's the kind of guy whom many women would like to date, and whom many men would like to have as a friend. After all, he's big on the favors." --Shine from Yahoo

Daring thieves steal the 200-year-old Jade Lily from a Minneapolis art museum and then offer to sell it back for one-third of its insured value--$1,300,000. But there's a catch. They demand that unlicensed P. I. Rushmore McKenzie act as go-between. McKenzie reluctantly agrees partly out of curiosity--why did the thieves pick him to deliver the ransom?--and partly because he feels he owes a favor to the insurance company that made him a millionaire years earlier. But when McKenzie makes contact with the thieves, he is bound, gagged and tossed in the back of a speeding van. It turns out there is a wide circle of misbegotten scoundrels who want the Lily for themselves, including a Bosnian thug, the U. S. State Department, a crooked cop, and a fortune hunter out of McKenzie's past. The game soon turns dark and violent and as the bodies start piling up, McKenzie comes to believe the truth of the Jade Lily's curse--terrible death follows anyone who touches it. Praise for CURSE OF THE JADE LILY: "McKenzie, who navigates a treacherous path just to stay (barely) alive, not only delivers a Nick Charles-like ending but metes out poetic justice to a fair number of participants." --Publishers Weekly, stared review "Like the other entries in this entertaining series, the book is a contemporary mystery with overtones from the era of classic hard-boiled detectives: the Jade Lily itself, with its perhaps not so mythical curse; the first-person narration; the wonderfully named femme fatale, Heavenly Petryk. Rushmore is a likable series hero, a guy who'd rather be doing not much of anything but who won't back down from a fight. The book works as a stand-alone, too, so readers unfamiliar with the series can jump right in." --Booklist "The latest McKenzie mystery is a wonderful thriller... Filled with humor and a strong cast...this is a fast-paced winner..." --The Mystery Gazette "Housewright's wit is every bit as sharp as (Robert B.) Parker's, and as I read along, I was chuckling to myself over bits of dialogue and acerbic observations on McKenzie's part... (It) has the snap and crackle of great storytelling. I can't think of a better way to spend a couple of evenings than curled up with a new David Housewright novel. Check it out for yourself" --Killer Books

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with his FBI pal Harry, make McKenzie an offer he can't refuse--no matter how hard he tries: take on the identity of a wanted fugitive, escape to the upper reaches of Minnesota and infiltrate a crew of armed robbers known as "The Iron Range Bandits." His mission--help retrieve a cache of stolen weapons before they're used to wreak havoc on the Canadian-US border. But there are a few catches. First, the bandits aren't the hardcore criminals they seem to be although the bent sheriff deputies chasing them certainly are. Then there's the stripper and her nefarious manager, the ex-soldier trying to prove he's a man, the minor-league crime czar who uses blackmail to force McKenzie to rob a highly guarded bank vault, and an enigmatic thug who finds love in all the wrong places. Not to mention the gunrunners who pride themselves on shooting first and asking questions later. And if that's not enough to make him wonder why he didn't stay home with his lady-love Nina Truhler, McKenzie soon learns that the promises of an ambitious Assistant U. S. Attorney to the contrary, he is absolutely on his own. Praise for THE LAST KIND WORD: "Outstanding ingenuity and empathy mark Edgar-winner Housewright's 10th mystery featuring millionaire St. Paul, Minn., ex-cop Rushmore McKenzie. Quirkily sympathetic characters make this more than a clever caper novel." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "If you took a modern-day noir and mixed it with a light comedy, you'd get something very much like a McKenzie novel: a serious, occasionally dark story told by an entertaining, often bemused narrator. An excellent but strangely underappreciated series." --Booklist "There are seriously few writers who can beat David Housewright for sheer storytelling power. His books hit the ground running and don't let up until the last page. This is another terrific story--I can't wait for the next one." --Aunt Agatha's