Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: McKenna's Guy by Mike Lawson

 

Mike Lawson is a consistently good author whom I wish were better known. His stories have been shortlisted for Edgar, Barry, and Shamus awards. His political thrillers with unofficial fixer Joe DeMarco skewers the Washington establishment thoroughly while giving his resourceful hero yet one more problem to solve. Lawson branches out into a stand-alone in his newest book, McKenna’s Guy, scheduled for release by Blackstone in early July 2026.

Roger Smith is a retirement age widower living quietly in a modest neighborhood in Washington, DC. He is closing in on a pension from his civil service job, the only job he’s had in his adult life. Smith has one daughter who is married with a child of her own. Predictable and inoffensive to the point of dullness. So why a masked man dressed in black should break into Smith’s house one night and attempt to kill him is a mystery to everyone, especially Smith. Had Smith still been asleep, he would not have survived, as the assassin fired four or five bullets into the bed. Smith fortunately heard the intruder break in and had time to find a baseball bat and retreat behind the bedroom door before the killer entered the room shooting. Then Smith hit the man as hard as he could with the bat, knocking him to the floor. Fear bolstered Smith’s swing, the single blow killed the intruder.

Even in his shock Smith knew he needed a lawyer despite acting in self-defense. He called his friend John McKenna, who had an extensive network, and asked for help, then he called the police. Detective Grace Lillinthal of Homicide was sent to the scene. She assumed she was dealing with a home invasion until she learned that the lawyer that showed up was referred by McKenna, when all her antennae went straight up. McKenna had a reputation as a criminal middleman. No matter what devious or illicit act someone might need assistance with, McKenna knew a guy who could help. That Smith thought to call McKenna first made his entire story suspect in Lillinthal’s mind.

While she relentlessly sought to establish the illicit connection between the two, Smith was trying to find out who cared enough about him to hire a professional hitman and why.

This is another fast-moving, well-written thriller with a unique spin, great characters, and a clever resolution. Readers unfamiliar with Lawson’s work might find this book a good place to start. Recommended!

Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus.

 

·         Publisher: ‎Blackstone Publishing, Inc.

·         Publication date: ‎July 7, 2026

·         Edition‏: ‎Hardcover

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎272 pages

·         ISBN-13: ‎979-8228358188

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4oR3k0j

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026 

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