A Hard Ticket Home

By David Housewright

Book Overview

Ex-St. Paul cop Rushmore McKenzie has more time and more money than he knows what to do with. In fact, when he's willing to admit it to himself (and usually he isn't), McKenzie is downright bored. Until he decides to do a favor for a friend facing a family tragedy: nine-year-old Stacy Carlson has been diagnosed with leukemia, and the only one with the matching bone marrow that can save her is her older sister Jamie. Trouble is, Jamie ran away from home years ago.

McKenzie begins combing the backstreets of the Twin Cities, tracking down Jamie's last known associates only to discover that along with the expected pimps and drug dealers, Jamie was also a favorite of a violent street gang, arms smugglers, and Minnesota's moneyed elite. And as the body-count rises, he learns that what he's looking for--and why--are nothing like he had imagined.

Praise for A HARD TICKET HOME:

"I didn't so much read A Hard Ticket Home as inhale it. What a wonderful time I had. The action is superb, and the tour of the Twin Cities is a delight. I love Rushmore McKenzie. He's heroic, foolish, clever, vulnerable--and unapologetically nice. One more hardback I shall have to buy every year." --Nevada Barr, author of Hunting Season

"The author has a sharp, bouncy prose style, and his story-about Mac's search for a friend's long-missing daughter who can possibly be a bone marrow donor for her younger sister-has some touching and exciting moments...A true son of Spenser." --Publishers Weekly

"The hero of this action-packed novel is very human: sometimes a smart aleck, sometimes sensitive and vulnerable--and more than capable of pulling the trigger. A surprise at every turn." --Dallas Morning Star

"Millionaire ex-cop rights wrongs pro-bono in an amiable throwback to Marlowe/Archer. Housewright has a keeper in McKenzie--tough, smart and sufficiently flawed to be entirely likeable." --Kirkus Review

"David Housewright's McKenzie (you want his first name and the story behind it, it's in the book) is a smartaleck, wisecracking, two-fisted, soft-hearted and very human addition to the PI field. Get to know him--you'll be glad you did." --S.J. Rozan, author of Winter and Night

"David Housewright has written a stunning novel. His prose is bone hard and beautiful, his story brutally dark, undeniably compelling, and in odd, unpredictable moments, quite funny. This is a guy who knows the human soul, and he lays it bare on every page." --William Kent Krueger, author of Blood Hollow

"Another winner from David Housewright. Private investigator 'Mac' McKenzie is the quintessential lone crusader, and A Hard Ticket Home is the perfect example of the Great Modern American Detective Novel. Fans of Robert B. Parker, John D. McDonald, and Ross MacDonald will love this book." --Pete Hautmann, author of Doohickey

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1643960172
• ISBN13: 9781643960173
• Release Date: May 2019
• Publisher: Down & Out Books
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Better than much of what's out there

I have been impressed with David Housewright's writing since his debut novel, Penance, appeared some years ago. From what I've heard elsewhere, I was one of the few who liked it, but that sort of thing has never bothered me in the past. He had one character there, an ex-cop named Holland Taylor, and he's started a second character here, another ex-cop named Rushmore "Mac" Mackenzie. Mac's a regular sort of guy, except that while a cop he managed to find an embezzler everyone else was looking for, and collect the reward for being the guy who tracked the fugitive down. This led to his being on the outs with his police department, so he quit. Now he occasionally helps people in trouble, though of course he's not a licensed investigator or anything. In the current book, he's hired to find a woman who ran away from her parents just after she turned 18. They haven't seen her since, and her younger sister has developed leukemia. Neither of the parents are acceptable donors, but a daughter might be, so off Mac goes, looking for her. Soon, people are shooting at him, women coming on to him, and the dead bodies and confusing plot twists are piling up. This is a very good mystery, perhaps Housewright's best. The plot's logical and everything connects. The suspects are all believable, the crimes are things that at least could happen, and the solution to everything is satisfying. I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Amazon.com for.....

recommending this book and author! Loved the book and found a new literary hero (and new author). I highly recommend this book to any and all who love a terrific plot line, great characters and a can't-wait-to-turn-the-pages read...I definitely will be reading ALL this author's titles and am just starting the first of his Holland Taylor books-can't wait to jump in!!! If you enjoyed this book, you might also look into Lee Child's books, Harlan Coben, Tess Gerritsen, J.A. Jance (J.P.Beaumont titles), Chris Grabenstein.

Excellent start to a new series

I loved the Holland Taylor books and a few years ago, I emailed David Housewright, wondering when the next would appear in print. I don't remember his exact response, but the gist was that his former publisher had lost interest in the series, and other publishers were reluctant to take on a series started by another house. This is an Edgar Award winning series! Oh, well...the plot summary of the fourth Holland Taylor book soon disappeared from his website, and now we have Rushmore Mackenzie, a new hero and a new publisher. Mac is a bit less hard bitten than Holland Taylor, perhaps, a little more optimistic in his outlook, a bit more vulnerable, but pretty much the same. Smart, determined and ready to give his all to right wrongs and pursue justice. There's always room for one more true blue American hero! An excellent debut.

dark urban thriller

After almost a dozen years on the St. Paul Police force, Rushmore McKenzie knows he has no chance of promotion ever since he made a righteous killing using a gun that was not standard police issue. When he finds an embezzler and the money he stole, he quits the force. This makes him eligible to take the insurance company reward for the return of the money. He is now a wealthy unlicensed private eye taking cases that interest him.Richard and Molly Carlson ask him to find their daughter Jamie who left years ago and never returned. Their younger daughter Stacy is dying of leukemia and her only hope is a bone marrow transplant. After a thorough search he locates Jamie who tells him she will get in touch with him after she tells her husband about the family he never knew she had. When he doesn't hear from her, he goes to her home only to find her murdered. Her husband and son are missing, but Jamie's parents want him to locate their grandson who might be a match for Stacy. The investigation turns deadlier when eight men connected to the case are murdered, some by McKenzie's hand.The case off as a missing person's case but turns into a conspiracy linking a business group with a low profile gang armed with East European weapons. David Housewright has written an exciting, action packed crime thriller in which it is difficult to tell the good people from the bad. A HOT TICKET HOME is a dark urban thriller that will have readers wondering what lurks behind the masks certain people wear to cover the evil that resides within.Harriet Klausner