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Stealing the Countess: A McKenzie Novel    by David Housewright Amazon.com order for
Stealing the Countess
by David Housewright
Order:  USA  Can
Minotaur, 2016 (2016)
Hardcover, e-Book
* *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

Stealing the Countess is David Housewright's thirteenth (following Unidentified Woman #15) in his mystery series starring Twin Cities-based ex-cop Rushmore McKenzie, now a millionaire PI free to pick and choose cases. Rush's beloved Nina often plays a role in his adventures as does his close friend, Bobby Dunston, a commander in St. Paul Police Department's Major Crimes and Investigations Division.

This time, Maestro Paul Duclos asks Rush to recover his Stradivarius violin, Countess Borromeo (which is actually owned by a foundation run by his wife, not by him). It was stolen from the B&B where Duclos was staying while performing in his home town of Bayfield, Wisconsin. The insurance company's recently retired chief investigator recommended McKenzie to his new client. And the company has only agreed to pay a reward for the violin's recovery if there is a conviction for the theft. Rush's lawyer advises him against getting involved, but of course he does anyway.

Rush rushes to Bayfield, where he has run-ins with a good cop, a bad cop, and treacherous Nordic princess/femme fatale Heavenly Petryk, who's also after the Stradivarius. There's a shooting - why? As always in a McKenzie mystery, nothing is quite what it seems. But, of course he works it all out, and saves a marriage along the way.

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