What Doesn’t Kill Us

At the start of Edgar-winner Housewright’s routine 18th novel featuring Rushmore “Mac” McKenzie (after 2020’s From the Grave), Mac, a former St. Paul, Minn., cop turned unlicensed detective, is shot in the back by an unknown assailant outside a club. While Mac lies in an induced coma, Lt. Bobby Dunston of the St. Paul PD, a childhood friend, assigns his best detectives to the case, and Thaddeus Coleman, a former drug dealer and pimp who now runs a ticket-scalping operation, works his contacts in St. Paul’s underworld. Alternating between the investigation and Mac’s recollections after he regains consciousness, the action never kicks into high gear. A solid look at St. Paul and environs and snappy dialogue enhance the fast-moving plot, which involves investment bankers and a family grudge, but the normally appealing Mac is wasted. Longtime fans will enjoy another visit with Mac, but new readers may wonder what the fuss is about. [em]Agent: Alison Picard, Alison J. Picard Agency. (May) [/em]