The Devil May Care (Mckenzie)
*Starred Review* Housewright’s Minnesota private eye doesn’t have a license and doesn’t need to work, both of which amp up his cleverness at sleuthing and the fun he has doing it. Rushmore McKenzie is a former St. Paul cop, independently wealthy from a reward for finding an embezzler. He has lots of contacts, including those who frequent his girlfriend’s high-end bar. And he has a voice that is very much like that of Boston private eye Spenser; readers will have a good time just listening to McKenzie sizing up people and situations. In this eleventh installment in the series, a young woman seeks McKenzie out at the girlfriend’s bar, asking him to find her boyfriend. The girl is the granddaughter of a Minnesota billionaire, a man who uses his money to buy and bludgeon people, including his granddaughter, to his will. The boyfriend, Juan Carlos Navarre, was seen most recently in two places that he claimed to own, a mansion and a restaurant. Other people want to know where Navarre is, too, and they commit arson and murder to find out. Housewright not only delivers steadily growing suspense, but also provides a canny tour of the high and low life in and around the Twin Cities, including an unforgettable tour of the posh Lake Minnetonka. Housewright may be the best Minnesota Noir writer going. --Connie Fletcher