Select one of the keywords
Dead Man's Mistress: A McKenzie Novel    by David Housewright Amazon.com order for
Dead Man's Mistress
by David Housewright
Order:  USA  Can
Minotaur, 2019 (2019)
Hardcover, e-Book
* *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

Dead Man's Mistress is the sixteenth in David Housewright's engaging series starring millionaire PI/ex-cop Rushmore McKenzie in the Twin Cities. The author also writes an excellent mystery series starring PI Holland Taylor.

McKenzie's beloved partner Nina often has his back in his adventures, as does his close friend, Bobby Dunston, a commander in St. Paul Police Department's Major Crimes and Investigations Division. This episode centers on valuable missing paintings, supposedly the work of the late Randolph McInnis. Artist Louise Wykoff was his model in over a hundred paintings, becoming infamous as a result, known as 'That Wykoff Woman'.

A recluse and still lovely, Louise now claims that she was in possession of three paintings, given to her by the artist but unknown to the public. Now they've been stolen and she begs McKenzie to get them back for her. He starts looking but soon stumbles upon a corpse. He's arrested by ornery Cook County Deputy Wurzer and interrogated by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

So McKenzie proceeds to do what he always does, to 'make a nuisance' of himself, and is beaten up for his efforts. Soon, Louise, McInnis's wife and a gangster are all competing for ownership of the missing art Other players include lovely young Jennica, daughter of a film producer, and a wannabe movie maker herself. The action moves to Thunder Bay and Quebec City, Canada before McKenzie puzzles it all out.

As expected, all's well that ends well in another intriguing and convoluted mystery from David Housewright. I look forward to more.

Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons.

Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews