A Hard Ticket Home

Rating:
Summary: dark urban thriller
Review: After almost a dozen years on the St. Paul Police force, Rushmore McKenzie knows he has no chance of promotion ever since he made a righteous killing using a gun that was not standard police issue. When he finds an embezzler and the money he stole, he quits the force. This makes him eligible to take the insurance company reward for the return of the money. He is now a wealthy unlicensed private eye taking cases that interest him.

Richard and Molly Carlson ask him to find their daughter Jamie who left years ago and never returned. Their younger daughter Stacy is dying of leukemia and her only hope is a bone marrow transplant. After a thorough search he locates Jamie who tells him she will get in touch with him after she tells her husband about the family he never knew she had. When he doesn't hear from her, he goes to her home only to find her murdered. Her husband and son are missing, but Jamie's parents want him to locate their grandson who might be a match for Stacy. The investigation turns deadlier when eight men connected to the case are murdered, some by McKenzie's hand.

The case off as a missing person's case but turns into a conspiracy linking a business group with a low profile gang armed with East European weapons. David Housewright has written an exciting, action packed crime thriller in which it is difficult to tell the good people from the bad. A HOT TICKET HOME is a dark urban thriller that will have readers wondering what lurks behind the masks certain people wear to cover the evil that resides within.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: dark urban thriller
Review: After almost a dozen years on the St. Paul Police force, Rushmore McKenzie knows he has no chance of promotion ever since he made a righteous killing using a gun that was not standard police issue. When he finds an embezzler and the money he stole, he quits the force. This makes him eligible to take the insurance company reward for the return of the money. He is now a wealthy unlicensed private eye taking cases that interest him.

Richard and Molly Carlson ask him to find their daughter Jamie who left years ago and never returned. Their younger daughter Stacy is dying of leukemia and her only hope is a bone marrow transplant. After a thorough search he locates Jamie who tells him she will get in touch with him after she tells her husband about the family he never knew she had. When he doesn't hear from her, he goes to her home only to find her murdered. Her husband and son are missing, but Jamie's parents want him to locate their grandson who might be a match for Stacy. The investigation turns deadlier when eight men connected to the case are murdered, some by McKenzie's hand.

The case off as a missing person's case but turns into a conspiracy linking a business group with a low profile gang armed with East European weapons. David Housewright has written an exciting, action packed crime thriller in which it is difficult to tell the good people from the bad. A HOT TICKET HOME is a dark urban thriller that will have readers wondering what lurks behind the masks certain people wear to cover the evil that resides within.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Read
Review: Just finished 'A Hard Ticket Home' and it was wonderful, as David's books always are. Good story, excellent dialogue. A page turner to the end. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves a good story and great writing!!

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Read
Review: Just finished 'A Hard Ticket Home' and it was wonderful, as David's books always are. Good story, excellent dialogue. A page turner to the end. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves a good story and great writing!!

Rating:
Summary: The dark side of the Twin Cities.
Review: What does a cop who legitimately comes into a obscene amount of money do? Well, if you're Rushmore McKenzie, you retire from the force, and indulge your "protect and serve" instincts by becoming an unlicensed private eye, doing "favors" for those you deem worthy.

A Hard Ticket Home opens as the newly wealthy McKenzie decides to help 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 disappeared years ago; her parents have no idea where to find her.

Mac starts haunting the seedy backstreets of the Twin Cities, searching for Jamie's last known associates. Conversations with pimps and drug dealers lead to confrontations with street gangs, and finally to some of the Cities' most respected businessmen. Despite several attempts to kill him, Mac persists, only to find that what he's looking for, and why, are not exactly what he'd imagined.

Featuring a tough, witty, hero working in an urban setting, it's clear that A Hard Ticket Home seeks to emulate the successful formula pioneered by Robert B. Parker. Despite a tendency to try too hard, Housewright for the most part succeeds, offering a tale with an intriguing central mystery and a likable, wisecracking protagonist whose exploits stretch, but don't challenge, the reader's credulity. McKenzie's wealth, police background, and quixotic nature suggest that he might explore less conventional mysteries in the future-here's hoping Housewright seizes the opportunity and runs with it.

Rating:
Summary: The dark side of the Twin Cities.
Review: What does a cop who legitimately comes into a obscene amount of money do? Well, if you're Rushmore McKenzie, you retire from the force, and indulge your "protect and serve" instincts by becoming an unlicensed private eye, doing "favors" for those you deem worthy.

A Hard Ticket Home opens as the newly wealthy McKenzie decides to help 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 disappeared years ago; her parents have no idea where to find her.

Mac starts haunting the seedy backstreets of the Twin Cities, searching for Jamie's last known associates. Conversations with pimps and drug dealers lead to confrontations with street gangs, and finally to some of the Cities' most respected businessmen. Despite several attempts to kill him, Mac persists, only to find that what he's looking for, and why, are not exactly what he'd imagined.

Featuring a tough, witty, hero working in an urban setting, it's clear that A Hard Ticket Home seeks to emulate the successful formula pioneered by Robert B. Parker. Despite a tendency to try too hard, Housewright for the most part succeeds, offering a tale with an intriguing central mystery and a likable, wisecracking protagonist whose exploits stretch, but don't challenge, the reader's credulity. McKenzie's wealth, police background, and quixotic nature suggest that he might explore less conventional mysteries in the future-here's hoping Housewright seizes the opportunity and runs with it.