Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Them Bones by David Housewright

 

One would think after 21 books a series could hold no surprises, but David Housewright’s latest story about Rush McKenzie, the retired police officer turned unofficial private investigator, is full of them. Them Bones (Minotaur, June 24, 2025) is all about the black market in dinosaur bones, something I didn’t know existed.

Angela Bjork, someone McKenzie met during the seventh book in the series (The Taking of Libbie, SD, Minotaur, 2010), visits St. Paul to ask for his help. Angela is working on a paleontology dig in southeastern Montana, and she discovered the rare complete skeleton of a dinosaur there. Before the site team could excavate it and transport it safely back to the University of Minnesota where the group works, the skull was stolen. There is considerable interest in owning dinosaur bones and the skull was in good enough condition to command top dollar in the black market. Angela’s academic career hinges on the work she does in the field and the research papers she produces about that work, just as the university competes for grants and other funding based on the research performed by its staff. Her entire department was desperate to recover the skull before it was taken out of the country, and she asked McKenzie if he could do anything to assist.

The entire dig knew the risks to their find, and they were all enjoined to complete secrecy. Someone talked somewhere, somehow, and that’s where McKenzie focuses his energy. The cutthroat academic environment with its backstabbing and “publish or perish” demands, as well as male professors who exploit the young female students, gets plenty of side swipes from Housewright throughout the narrative. As usual, nothing McKenzie undertakes is simple and things get complicated before the plot wraps up in a satisfying and rewarding finale.

Rushmore McKenzie, created by David Housewright, is one of my favorite fictional characters. This series is one of the few on my must-read list these days and I was not disappointed in this latest adventure. Recommended. 

·         Publisher: Minotaur Books (June 24, 2025)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Hardcover: ‎320 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎125036051X

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1250360519

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3FB1Buc

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025 

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

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 21^st 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.

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.

Unidentified Woman #15 (Rush McKenzie) by David Housewright (Sons of Spade Blog)

Unidentified Woman #15 (Rush McKenzie) by David Housewright (Sons of Spade Blog)