What doesn't kill us

At the start of Edgar-winner Housewright's routine 18th novel featuring Rushmore "Mac" McKenzie (after 2020's From the Grave), Mac, a former St. Paul, Minn., cop turned unlicensed detective, is shot in the back by an unknown assailant outside a club. While Mac lies in an induced coma, Lt. Bobby Dunston of the St. Paul PD, a childhood friend, assigns his best detectives to the case, and Thaddeus Coleman, a former drug dealer and pimp who now runs a ticket-scalping operation, works his contacts in St. Paul's underworld. Alternating between the investigation and Mac's recollections after he regains consciousness, the action never kicks into high gear. A solid look at St. Paul and environs and snappy dialogue enhance the fast-moving plot, which involves investment bankers and a family grudge, but the normally appealing Mac is wasted. Longtime fans will enjoy another visit with Mac, but new readers may wonder what the fuss is about. Agent: Alison Picard, Alison J. Picard Agency. (May)

Rushmore McKenzie gets shot. He's not dead yet, but it's a lot harder for him to narrate his 18th case. Moments after stepping out of RT's Basement and seeing the warm smile of neglected housewife Nancy Moosbrugger, who's come to the bar in hopes of being a little less neglected, the unlicensed private eye is shot in the back. Dr. Lillian Linder, a friend of McKenzie's wife, nightclub owner Nina Truhler, makes sure that he has the best medical care, and everyone in and out of the St. Paul Police Department, where McKenzie worked until a financial windfall enabled him to retire years ahead of schedule, drops everything to look into the shooting. Chopper Coleman, one of many criminals McKenzie befriended, gets a copy of the surveillance video from outside RT's Basement. Cmdr. Bobby Dunston, McKenzie's old friend, prioritizes the attack over every other case on Major Crimes' docket. Dunston's former partner, Detective Jean Shipman, looks hard into McKenzie's latest investigation, a favor for his friend Dave Deese, who asked him to find out who his father was after a home DNA test reveals that it wasn't the man he was raised to call his dad. This last trail leads Shipman (like McKenzie, as he reveals in a series of first-person flashbacks while he lies in a coma) down a rabbit hole created by the wealthy, well-insulated family of Gerald King, who disappeared under sinister circumstances 20 years ago. The Kings are a gift that keeps on throwing off nefarious complications, and some readers may well get lost in the weeds before the curtain comes crashing down. It's inspiring to see so many people who don't much like each other rally to the cause of Housewright's hero. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.