Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: What Doesn't Kill Us by David Housewright

Rushmore McKenzie, created by David Housewright, is one of my favorite fictional characters. Pleasantly self-indulgent and not especially energetic, he still periodically serves as unofficial private investigator, he calls it doing favors, for his friends, as well as for friends of friends, which is how he often lands in the local emergency room with the police asking awkward questions.

In the 18^th title of this fine private investigator series, the tables are turned and everyone around Rush is trying to learn just what got him shot as he was leaving a night club in a sleazy part of St. Paul. Rush himself is in a coma with his new wife of a few months alternately wanting to hug him or slap him. His childhood friend Lt. Bobby Dunston of the St. Paul Police Department discovers soon enough that the friend Rush was helping this time had taken one of the commercial DNA tests and learned that the father who raised him was not his biological father. The friend enlisted Rush to help him figure out who that biological parent was. No one could see how that might possibly result in a near-lethal bullet. The story gets complicated as the routine search for a parent and family becomes entwined with the hostile takeover of a huge technology company.

Many of the people for whom Rush did favors in years past come out of the woodwork to conduct their own investigation, driving Dunston to distraction as he has to work around them. None of them heed Dunston’s demands to back off, because they all feel a personal responsibility to help Rush as much as he helped them. The result is a story recounted from multiple perspectives, each revealing a bit of the puzzle that finally comes together neatly at the end. It’s pleasant to see characters from earlier books again and to learn how their lives have moved on with Rush’s assistance.

Housewright remains one of my favorite crime writers still writing. He bucks the unfortunate trend of serial killers and disappearing sisters/daughters/wives, all of which can’t be replaced too soon. With all the references to earlier cases and subsequent spoilers, though, this is not the place to start the series. Highly recommended.

 

·         Publisher: ‎ Minotaur Books (May 25, 2021)

·         Language: ‎ English

·         Hardcover: ‎ 352 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎ 1250756995

·         ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1250756992

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.