Fear the
Reaper by David Housewright (Minotaur, June 2026) is the newest of the
Rushmore McKenzie series. McKenzie is an unofficial private investigator who
does favors for friends and friends of his friends. His circle of friends is
ever-widening and they bring him some original problems which he cannot resist
trying to solve, often with the assistance of his childhood best friend, Bobby
Dunston who is a career cop.
Mac and his
wife Nina are visiting Bobby’s parents in their vacation home in upstate
Wisconsin. Mac and Bobby Dunston started as neighbors in St. Paul and became
inseparable from an early age. When Mac was 12 his mother died and Patty
Dunston stepped into the role, making the two men even closer. Patty is a huge
fan of a small winery near their Wisconsin home and the group of five visit one
Friday afternoon, where the popular place is nearly full. Bobby is the first to
see the man who enters the crowded room carrying an AR-15, and he and Mac
tackle him before he can fire a shot.
Unfortunately
Wisconsin is an open-carry state. Since he was stopped before he actually
injured someone, he was not breaking a law and the police could not press
charges. The sheriff was uneasy though. The security camera footage showed the
prospective gunman looking around the room, as if searching for a specific
target. He of course is not admitting to anything, so she asks Mac to find out
who the intended victim was to try to stop another attempt that might succeed. This
unenviable assignment required Mac to look into the lives of each person at the
winery that afternoon and find out if someone might benefit from their death. He
had no authority to interview anyone or to examine records but that never stops
Mac. Of course his questions upset a few people, revealing as they did some
details better left private.
Housewright
excels at creating believable characters and here he sketches a handful of them
in sharp outline with a quick snapshot of their lives. While relationship
trouble seemed inevitable for a number of the people present that Friday from
some of the things Mac learned, murder was a bit of a stretch for most of them.
Mac’s deep
attachment to his friends and family is a nice change from the alienated
anti-hero so common now. He’s genuinely a nice person, and the people he meets
in the course of his investigations recognize it. The solutions start with
Mac’s knowledge of human nature and, if not clearly clued, they align with the
facts as presented.
After 23
books, a mediocre read might be expected but I didn’t find it here. Another innovative
plot with familiar characters, devious misdirection, and more than competent
writing. I have no idea why readers do not rave about these books. They are one
of the best long-running series still in print. Anyone looking for a new series
to binge should look at this one. Recommended!
- Publisher: Minotaur Books
- Publication date: June 23, 2026
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: 125036048X
- ISBN-13: 978-1250360489
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4xzOrnn
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal
It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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