Highway 61: A McKenzie Novel    by David Housewright Order:  USA  Can Minotaur, 2011 (2011) Hardcover, e-Book Read an Excerpt     Reviewed by Tim Davis In Highway 61, David Housewright's eighth Rushmore McKenzie novel, the Minneapolis-based ex-cop has reluctantly made a promise to Erica Truhler, the daughter of McKenzie's divorced girlfriend, Nina Truhler: he will help the young girl's father, Jason Truhler, with a small problem. The problem, however, as McKenzie is about to discover, is anything but small. Jason Truhler tells McKenzie that he is being blackmailed because of recent problems during his trip to a music festival in Canada. In fact, Truhler is convinced that the incident - which he seems to have difficulty remembering accurately because of a troublesome blackout - involved a rather young girl (the same age as Erica), an evening of drinking (with perhaps a little something extra), a wild night of intimacy (if he remembers correctly), and (if all the photographic evidence is reliable) somebody's brutal death. So, only because of his promise to young Erica, but in spite of red-flags that warn him against a fool's errand, McKenzie travels on U.S. highway 61 from Minnesota to Canada, and the complicated investigation begins. Soon, though, he finds himself involved in a death-defying series of problems including drug trafficking (with violence), car chases (with more violence), confrontations with a few unsavory characters (with even more violence), and all sorts of surprises (with - believe it or not - still more violence). By the time the recommended Highway 61 ends, readers who have stuck with McKenzie throughout his pulse-pounding, death-defying adventures, will probably have a reaction similar to this reader's: that certainly was a lot of violence! 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