Monday, March 17, 2025

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Man in the Water by David Housewright

 

Rushmore McKenzie, created by David Housewright, is one of my favorite fictional characters and I am happy to see his adventures continue. Pleasantly self-indulgent and not especially energetic in his so-called retirement, he still periodically serves as unofficial private investigator, he calls it doing favors, for his friends, as well as for friends of friends.

In Man in the Water (Minotaur, 2024) the 21st title of this very good series, the temperatures are rising after a long Minnesota winter, and Nina and Rush are looking forward to joining their friends on a trip down the St. Croix River. Upon arrival at the largely deserted marina they encounter a distraught woman who says her husband was looking at the boats and now she doesn’t see him. Rush begins to search, checking the marina office and nearby coffee shop, but it’s Nina who finds the husband in the river near the edge of a dock. Rush called the police; when they arrived and he and Nina answered their questions, they stepped back from a sad situation that did not require them.

The insurance company declined to pay the double indemnity for an accidental death and the victim’s widow filed a lawsuit; Nina was considered a critical witness so they became involved again. Then the dead man’s daughter became convinced her father was killed and she asks Rush to investigate.

He started out, logically enough, at the marina. The boat-owning denizens of the marina were a lively bunch. One of the yacht owners seemed to hold a perennial open house where the liquor flows and the good times roll.

Rush noticed a reference to a co-owner of the company the dead man owned, only no one can tell him who that partner is. He learned a co-owner might well take precedence in the payout of the insurance policies at issue. Tracing the money flowing into and out of the small but prosperous company became critical.

It’s always a pleasure to spend time with Rush and his friends, only this time his usual sidekick Bobby Dunston isn’t around. Instead a couple of his boating friends are added to the mix and the insurance company that Rush has worked with several times is represented. While Housewright normally concocts complicated plots, this one is downright byzantine, up to the unexpected but satisfying ending. Not the place to start the series but readers familiar with earlier entries will like this one.


Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3XLpc0L

 

  • Publisher: Minotaur Books (June 25, 2024)
  • Language: English
  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • ISBN-10: 1250863600
  • ISBN-13: 978-125086360



Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025

 

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

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