A Hard Ticket Home: A McKenzie Novel

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.

Critical Acclaim 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