Bøger i Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie serien

In David Housewright's next hardboiled mysterySomething Wicked, Rushmore McKenzie, who promised to retire after his last nearly-fatal case, gets talked into doing an old friend a favor involving a castle, a family fighting over an inheritance, and at least one mysterious death.Rushmore McKenzie was a detective with the St. Paul, Minnesota PD until unlikely events made him first a millionaire and then a retiree. Since then, he's been an occasional unofficial private investigator - looking into things for friends and friends of friends - until his most recent case put him into a coma and nearly into a coffin. Now, at the insistence of his better half Nina Truhler, he is again retired.That is, until a friend of Nina finds herself in dire straights and in desperate need of a favor. Jenness Crawford's grandmother owned the family castle - a nineteenth century castle that has been operating as a hotel and resort for over a hundred years. Since her grandmother's death, the heirs have been squabbling over what to do with it. Some want to keep it in the family and running as a hotel. Some want to sell it and reap the millions a developer will pay for it. And Jenness is convinced that someone - probably in the latter group - killed her grandmother. A conclusion with which the police do not agree. Now McKenzie finds himself back in action, trapped in a castle filled with feuding relatives with conflicting agendas, long serving retainers, and a possible murderer. And if McKenzie makes one wrong move, it could be lights out.

Once a homicide detective in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rushmore McKenzie is, through a series of unlikely events, both a millionaire and an occasional private investigator. As an unofficial PI, McKenzie only looks into the occasional situation for friends or friends of friends. Jeanette Carrell stretches McKenzie's guidelines but she's in a bind. She's been arrested, indicted, and about to go on trial for murder. The body of the victim was found buried in a shallow grave at the far edge of her property. The victim was not only a neighbor, he was real estate developer accused of tricking a man with dementia, a friend of Carrell's, into signing away his property for development, property that he'd worked to keep pristine. When the developer was last seen, Carrell was heard threatening to kill him. Even more damning, a potential witness swears she saw Carrell digging near the grave site shortly after the victim disappeared. The final nail in the proverbial coffin is her alibi-she has none. With all the evidence-motive and means and opportunity-pointing to her guilt, and precious little in her defense, perhaps the most confusing aspect is Carrell's calm attitude. Rushmore McKenzie is now faced with a challenging case-how to protect Carrell and unearth the truth of what really happened when all the circumstantial evidence is against her.

Looking into an unsolved murder as a favor, McKenzie soon uncovers either the strangest set of coincidences or the sites of a very real, very deadly conspiracy.Once a police detective in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rushmore McKenzie has become not only an unlikely millionaire, but an occasional unlicensed private investigator, doing favors for friends and people in need. When his stepdaughter Erica asks him for just such a favor, McKenzie doesn't have it in him to refuse. Even though it sounds like a very bad idea right from the start. The father of Malcolm Harris, a college friend of Erica's, was found murdered a year ago in a park in New Brighton, a town just outside the Twin Cities. With no real clues and all the obvious suspects with concrete alibis, the case has long since gone cold. As McKenzie begins poking around, he soon discovers another unsolved murder that's tangentially related to this one. And all connections seem to lead back to a group of friends the victim was close with. But all McKenzie has is a series of odd, even suspicious, coincidences-until someone decides to make it all that more serious and personal.

A stolen gem with a tragic history, a curse and a million dollar ransom is Mac McKenzie's latest case, in David Housewright's Curse of the Jade LilySeveral years ago, Rushmore McKenzie became an unexpected millionaire and set about doing not much of anything. Now, showing up at his doorstep is the insurance company that paid the settlement that made him rich-and they want a favor. Someone has stolen a very expensive gem from a local art museum and is willing to ransom it back. The only condition is that McKenzie has to be the go between. And this is no ordinary gem-it is a jade with a history going back to the Qing Dynasty and a reputed curse that stories claim has ruined or killed everyone who has ever owned it. McKenzie agrees to help but what starts out as a simple ransom quickly becomes complicated. Suddenly other parties-including the State Department and a mysterious woman named Heavenly-start showing up, wanting McKenzie to turn over the gem to them. When the murdered body of on of the thieves turns up in a snow drift, it looks like the cursed Jade Lily has claimed its latest victim. And there may well be more to follow...