Select one of the keywords
What the Dead Leave Behind    by David Housewright Amazon.com order for
What the Dead Leave Behind
by David Housewright
Order:  USA  Can
Minotaur, 2017 (2017)
Hardcover, e-Book
* *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

What the Dead Leave Behind is the fourteenth in David Housewright's Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie series. I enjoy these books very much, perhaps more for the characters' interactions than the mysteries themselves, though the latter are solid.

The series stars 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.

In this episode, McKenzie's stepdaughter Erica asks for a favor and he can never refuse her. Erica's distraught friend Malcolm Harris is haunted by his father's stabbing the year before in a park in New Brighton (a nearby town) - he was found dying in a drainage ditch. McKenzie learns that the head of the company (the Szereto Corporation) the dead man worked for had also been murdered - related?

Turns out the man's wife was 'the most accident-prone woman in New Brighton'; her husband abused her. She has a strong alibi though - she was at a potluck with a group they both belonged to, the New Brighton Hotdish, whose kids all used to play baseball together. McKenzie starts to interview Hotdish members, while some of them seem to be following him.

McKenzie's threatened and attached, but undeterred. And though he uncovers a corporate conspiracy, there's carnage a-plenty - and a tough decision to make - before it's all over.

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