1--What is the title of your latest release?
I have two books that came out within two months of each other - GIRL IN A DUMPSTER published by Down & Out Books and THEM BONES, published by St. Martin’s Minotaur,
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
GIRL IN A DUMPSTER is a traditional hard-boiled detective novel and deals with what I call the corruption of the rich – “I don’t care what it costs others as long as I’m protected.” But it’s also about family.
THEM BONES features an unlicensed PI and is a more straight-forward tale about greed, in this case dealing specifically with dinosaur skeletons and the black market.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
GIRL IN A DUMPSTER takes place in Minneapolis because that’s where the Holland Taylor, the detective, lives and works.
THEM BONES takes place in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana (that’s where the dinosaurs roam), the Twin Cities, and Toronto (so I could deduct my vacation on my taxes).
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I’d love to spend time with McKenzie, the hero of THEM BONES. He’s kind, generous, helpful, wouldn’t hurt a fly unless the fly messed with him, and would probably pick up the check.
Not so much Holland Taylor, who’s cynical, not particularly friendly, and prone to violence.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
McKenzie – adventurous, loyal, smart
Taylor – cynical, suspicious, skilled
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
With GIRL IN A DUMPSTER I learned a lot about the business of kidnapping in some third world countries and how it’s drifting toward the US., as well as practical problems like the securing of ransom money (you can’t just walk out of a branch office of a bank with a shopping bag filled with cash).
THEM BONES was the most informative, though, in that I did a lot of research about the finding and securing of dinosaur fossils for research and how the black market (think art theft) factors into it.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I work with a loose outline and edit and polish as I go. I don’t do “drafts.” When I get to the end – and I always know how the book ends before I begin – it’s ready for the publisher.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
My indulgence is that I am a foodie who gets to work from home. I can happily spend a couple of hours putting together a meal.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
Cluttered! I have an office in my basement featuring furniture from my advertising days, books, notebooks, various stacks of paper (I call it research), photographs, CD’s, bobbleheads and autographed baseballs, hockey jerseys, posters, a bulletin board with no empty space – did I mention books?
10--Who is an author you admire?
So many. Elmore Leonard. Ask me tomorrow and I’ll probably come up with a different name.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Swinging Danger – it was about a kid who built a rope swing, what we used to call a Tarzan swing, even though everyone told him that he would fall and break his neck. And he did fall, and he broke his wrist. And like all first novels, it was highly autobiographical. I wrote it when I was twelve.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I wish I could. I received the call from my agent at Gerber-Housewright, the advertising agency I co-owned in St. Paul. Only that was thirty years ago, and I have no memory of it. Probably I was distracted at the time. Certainly, I had no idea how much my life would change because of it.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Mysteries
14--What’s your favorite movie?
“The Magnificent Seven” – the original with Yul Brynner, not the remake.
15--What is your favorite season?
Hockey
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Oh, I don’t. Not at my age.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Any book by Lorna Landvik. She has the most authentic Minnesota “voice.”
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Cajun. If you can trace it to the bayou, I’m in.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I read.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I have a new McKenzie novel coming out probably next June called FEAR THE REAPER.
And I’ve been kicking around ideas for another Taylor novel, only nothing has grabbed me, yet.
Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie #22
A stolen dinosaur skull is at the center of a complex mystery laid at the feet of unofficial P.I. Rushmore McKenzie.
There are two things that Rushmore McKenzie hates to turn down—a request from a friend and a challenge. Both of them show up in his wife's nightclub in the person of Angela Bjork, who has come to request McKenzie's help. McKenzie, once a homicide detective, now through a series of unlikely events, is a retired millionaire. But occasionally, for friends, he will do some unofficial private detective work. Over the years, he's hunted down a stolen Stradivarius, the hoard of 1930's gangster, and recovered a stolen, apparently cursed, artifact but McKenzie never imagined a case like this. An exceedingly rare dinosaur skull has been stolen.
Angela, a doctoral candidate, was out on a dig site in Southeastern Montana, when she found a skeleton of an Ankylosaurus. And no sooner than when the skull was removed and placed on a truck then they were attacked, the truck and skull stolen. Worried that nothing is being done to find the stolen skull, she turns to McKenzie. Worth millions on the black market, the chance to recover it becomes fainter by the day. And the people behind the theft are likely willing to do anything, to anyone, to hold onto it.
Mystery Private Eye | Mystery Hard Boiled [St. Martin's Press, On Sale: June 24, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9781250360519 / eISBN: 9781250360526]
DAVID HOUSEWRIGHT has won the Edgar Award for his first Holland Taylor crime novel (Penance) and is the three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for his crime fiction. In addition to the Holland Taylor series, he is also the author of several novels featuring Rushmore McKenzie. He is a past president of the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA). He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy