Them Bones:

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 a 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.

Girl in a Dumpster:

Party girl Henrietta Weller wakes up one morning in a dumpster behind a bar with no memory of how she got there. She hires Private Investigator Holland Taylor and his partner Sidney Poitier Fredericks to get answers. And revenge. “So there’s no misunderstanding later—someone threw me away like so much garbage. Someone is going to pay for that.”Taylor soon discovers that the woman was kidnapped and ransomed back to her mother. What’s more, she wasn’t the only victim. A sophisticated kidnapping ring has targeted the daughters of Minnesota’s rich and famous—and infamous. Taylor and Freddie insist that the FBI be informed. However, a financial guru and fixer for the families demands that the incidents be dealt with and forgotten. Until there’s another kidnapping. And another. And Taylor and Freddie are forced to take matters into their own hands—no matter what the cost.

A past president of the Private Eye Writers of America, David Housewright has published 31 crime novels including “Them Bones” featuring unlicensed Private Eye Rushmore McKenzie and “Girl In A Dumpster” starring traditional trench coat detective Holland Taylor. He has earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, a Shamus nomination from the PWA, and three Minnesota Books Awards. A reformed newspaper reporter and ad man, Housewright has taught novel-writing courses at the University of Minnesota and Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. His name and face were recently added to “Minnesota Writers on the Map” by the Minnesota Historical Society and Friends of the St. Paul Public Library.