Madman on a drum

Housewright returns with another noir-tinged mystery starring St. Paul detective Rushmore McKenzie. The noir element here is partially indicated by the title, taken from Wilde's despairing Ballad of Reading Gaol. The rest is provided by Housewright's cheerless depiction of contemporary St. Paul. McKenzie himself is a bit of a motivation mystery: he claims to have been totally fulfilled as a cop, but he retired once he collected a healthy reward for the capture of an embezzler. Now he does investigations only for friends. This time out the daughter of his best friend since childhood has been snatched off a city street in broad daylight, and the kidnapper demands a ransom directly from McKenzie. Beset by guilt it was apparently his wealth and reputation that led to the kidnapper's choice of victim McKenzie battles his conscience and deals with the alienation of his friends as he works toward saving the victim. Lots of narrative momentum and exciting scenes.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2008 Booklist

Hate, revenge and old-fashioned greed propel Edgar-winner Housewright's stellar fifth mystery to feature former St. Paul, Minn., cop Rushmore McKenzie (after 2007's Dead Boyfriends). When the older grade school-age daughter of McKenzie's old friend, St. Paul homicide chief Bobby Dunston, is kidnapped on her way home from school, the unlicensed PI gets on the case. Soon McKenzie is hurtling headlong through the Twin Cities' meanest streets with a $50,000 price on his head. Housewright's chivalric noir hero never fails to charm, whether mourning a St. Paul that's lost much of its colorful, if shady, past or busting a bestial dogfight entrepreneur out in the chilly countryside. Against a realistic Minnesota backdrop, this homage to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer raises cutting questions about crime and punishment and today's price of friendship and loyalty. Of course, McKenzie knows it's all about money, but Housewright makes it so fresh and real it hurts. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved