The Last Kind Word

Outstanding ingenuity and empathy mark Edgar-winner Housewright’s 10th mystery featuring millionaire St. Paul, Minn., ex-cop Rushmore McKenzie (after 2012’s Curse of the Jade Lilly). As part of an ATF operation to recover stolen guns from the notoriously botched real-life Operation Fast and Furious, McKenzie successfully infiltrates the inept Iron Range Bandits, made up of an extended family that has drifted into armed robbery because of economic hard times. The only way to discover the source of their weapons is to plan a major heist—except that McKenzie finds himself caring about the sad-sack family members and doesn’t want to involve them in more criminal activity. But crooked cops and a creepily malevolent local crime boss insist that the robbery proceed so that they can split the loot. Tension builds as the action accelerates. Quirkily sympathetic characters make this more than a clever caper novel; Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport no longer have northern Minnesota all to themselves. Agent: Alison Pickard, Alison J. Picard Agency. (June)