In Edgar-winner Housewright's entertaining second noirish mystery starring Twin Cities ex-cop Rushmore "Mac" McKenzie (after 2004's A Hard Ticket Home
), an elderly family friend, Mr. Mosley, asks Mac to look into the mysterious deaths of some bees at his honey farm. A University of Minnesota graduate student, Ivy Flynn, identifies an insecticide as the cause, but not before Mr. Mosley's surly new neighbor, Frank Crosetti, takes a shot at Ivy while she's collecting soil samples near his property. Then someone shoots Mr. Mosley in the head gangland style, and Crosetti disappears. A bereaved and guilt-ridden Mac pulls out all stops for a full-fledged investigation, diving under deep cover when the FBI issues a Seeking Information Alert for him. The suspense builds as Mac traces a couple of dim-bulb thugs to a tiny oasis of trailer homes where resides a bent FBI man, Steve Sykora, who's protecting a dangerous mobster. Channeling Raymond Chandler with tongue-in-cheek humor, Housewright delivers plenty of action, a pinch of romance and more than a few surprises. Agent, Alison Picard. (May 9)
