Curse of the Jade Lily

Mac McKenzie #9

by David Housewright, Brent Hinkley (Reading)

Several 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 sculpture 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 one 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.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Suspense, Audiobook, Crime

Audio CD

First published June 5, 2012

About the author

A past president of the Private Eye Writers of America, David Housewright has published 28 crimes novels including In A Hard Wind (June 2023 St. Martin’s Minotaur) and has contributed short stories to 15 anthologies and other publications. 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, he has also taught 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.

Reviews

[Matt]

I am on a series binge of David Housewright’s Mac McKenzie collection, of which this is the ninth book. Housewright explores the life of Mac ‘Rushmore’ McKenzie, an amateur private investigator from St. Paul, Minnesota who is always eager to help those close to him. Asked to help get a valuable gem back to a local art gallery, Mac soon finds himself in the middle of a game where many want the riches and will do whatever it takes to get it, even if that means sacrificing Mac McKenzie. Housewright shows new angles and intriguing storylines.

Mac ‘Rushmore’ McKenzie came into a significant amount of money years ago, which led to his abrupt retirement from the St. Paul PD. Now, he’s working an an unlicensed PI and helping those he deems worth his while. He’s leery when the insurance company that padded his bank account has returned with a new request. An expensive gem has been stolen from a local art gallery and the ‘artnappers’ want Mac to serve as go-between for the ransom demand.

This is no typical gem that could be re-cut and sold anew. It dates back centuries from a Chinese dynasty and appears to be quite popular in the art world. It also holds an odd backstory that everyone who has owed it has turned up dead. Intrigued and without a busy calendar, Mac agrees to help, but things soon go from simple money exchange into something much more complex.
As soon as Mac begins helping, others emerge from the shadows to claim ownership of the gem.

While Mac is to remain the go-between, groups such as the State Department and a mysterious woman known to Mac request he turn the gem over to them. What began as a favour has become a complete mess-up and Mac is a target for everyone. The Jade Lily is a gem that surely holds sway over everyone and when the body of a thief in the middle of it all turns, Mac can only wonder what’s next and whose blood will flow. Housewright delivers a great story and one full of intrigue.

While I have the latest novel in the series as an ARC, I wanted some context and so am binge reading the entire collection. Housewright creates a great story that rests on a clear narrative, which never wanes. He provides a protagonist, Mac McKenzie, with much to keep the PI in the thick of things, which series fans will know all  too well. Other characters are well-represented, adding a great flavour to the larger story. The plot provides the reader with something adventurous and never lets Mac rest until the final reveal. The intensity is clear and well worth the reader’s time!

Kudos, Mr. Housewright, for an exhilarating read!

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at: http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Susan Grace]

Another great mystery adventure by David Housewright! LOVE LOVE LOVE this series!

[Kate]

Good mystery and good twist at the end. The reader is kept guessing as to the real villains all the way through.

[Jon]

An extraordinarily complicated mystery, with our detective being asked to be the middle-man who delivers ransom money to some thieves who have stolen an emerald from a small local museum. What makes it complicated is that there are at least five entities who claim some title to, or at least an interest in the emerald. Any of them could also have been in league with the thieves. And very early on we already have one dead body, with many threats of various kinds to our detective. The final settlement in the last pages was so convoluted that I quit trying to figure it out for myself and just went along for the ride. I trust that David Housewright, who writes very good books, kept it all legitimately straight.

[Marta]

McKenzie is doing a favor for the insurance company that made him wealthy years ago. He is to deliver the ransom to the ‘artnappers’. Only other people stick their beaks into the case and it gets a bit more complicated.

Decent addition to the series.

Rating posted: 8/25/26
Brief thoughts posted: 8/31/26

[Sandee]

Racist, misogynist, ex-police McKenzie devolves to slapping women, and recklessly using his firearm to shoot out a tire on a busy city street at midday because he’s being followed? WTH? DNF and done with this series

[Hapzydeco]

Convoluted but enough intrigue to make forging on to the end worthwhile.

[Kimberly Ann]

When an antique carved jade Lily on loan to a local museum is stolen by a staff member, McKenzie is called in to deliver the ransom money and retrieve it. The problem is there are several people out there who want the Lily or the money and are willing to harass McKenzie to get it.

When the thief is shot before the exchange and the crooked cop as well, all hell breaks loose. Some of the police are not unhappy the corrupt cop is dead, but at the same time the code of honor that states "Thou shalt not kill a police officer" .

Also in the mix are Mr Donatucci, the insurance adjuster; Heavenly Petryk, a wildcard bounty hunter; a crooked government State Department Agent; the glib owner of the Lily; and several nasty people from the museum all with their eyes on the prize.

When McKenzie makes the exchange of ransom for the Lily, he receives a call from the thieves stating that he has 10 seconds to get out of the hotel room where the Lily is waiting to be retrieved... and so McKenzie jumps over the railing of the 2nd floor just as the bomb goes off.

So what about the money, the murders, & the Lily? More twists and turns than Twisted Colossus Rollercoaster, but not as fun.

[Nolan]

An ancient gem originally owned by someone in Eastern Europe made its way to the United States and eventually to a small relatively new museum in Minneapolis. The jade Lily comes up missing, and the insurance company with whom Private Investigator Mac McKenzie had once worked approached him asking for a favor. They need his help finding the missing gem. Its curse is that anyone who owns it eventually dies or deals with some sort of horrible life change.

Things get complicated as the museum insider who stole the piece brutally dies and other interested parties step up to demand ownership of the gem. Those interested parties range from the U.S. state department 2A disreputable scoundrel from Eastern Europe who insists that his country owns the gem outright.

This was OK, and you really can read it without reading the first eight books in the series if you want to, but in all truth, I think some of the first eight books are a little better than this one. You might do well to pick those up first.

[John]

Housewright is growing on me, thanks to my dear partner's insistance on getting his books from the library. Since I was between heavy books and it was on the kitchen island (where our collection of library books seem to lay), I picked it up and started reading. Suddenly I was back into another Mckenzie mystery and realized that Housewright has a knack of creating interesting plots. Not a great wordsman or crafter of sentences, he does weave fine tales and this was another one. By now I know his various characters within Mckenzie's realm, and of course I know enough about the Twin Cities to picture his verbal descriptions of the streets and neighborhoods, yet I zip right on through enjoying every moment.

[P.J.]

Very refreshing to find a new series written in the first person POV, always my favorite (the fewer POV's, the better). Unfortunately I'm not starting the series at the beginning, but it's not essential to do so, as there are only passing references to previous events. The protagonist is Rushmore McKenzie, a former policeman in Minneapolis St. Paul who came into money and retired from the force, only he couldn't retire from the rush of righting a wrong. This book concerns McKenzie with a stolen object of art and the events take enough turns and twists to keep the reader guessing right to the end. The writing is very reader-friendly, the characters well-drawn and believable, and the scenes descriptive and clear. I will absolutely be reading more books in this series.

[Dick Aichinger]

This was a fun read. McKenzie is asked to act as an intermediary in the exchange of ransom money for the safe return of a stolen museum piece. The insurance company is the same one that made him rich when he recovered the stolen money. The request seemed simple enough, especially when he would get 10% of the money paid for the item's return.

It doesn't seem anything goes that easily for McKenzie, though. This one is no exception. People die, he is hurt. He isn't supposed to try to solve the case, just return the item. It becomes a lot more complicated than that.

[Diane]

This was a complicated but fun mystery. My hero, Rushmore McKenzie, agrees to act as a go-between in the exchange of ransom money for the safe return of the Jade Lily, stolen from a Minneapolis museum. The insurance company paying the ransom is the same one that made him rich when he received the reward for recovering stolen money from an embezzler, so McKenzie feels like he owes them. Seems easy enough, but alas, people die and he is hurt (as usual). Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Larry]

All the way through this story I kept having the feeling I had read it before. I couldn’t actually go back to verify it, but I believe several of McKenzie’s “go to” friends were involved in this story as they were in a couple of the other valuable item search and recovery plots. That aside, several people - all pursuing their own schemes to make money on the stolen Jade Lily - contribute to an interesting, twisting, mystery that was an enjoyable read.

[Eric]

Another enjoyable installment in the Rushmore McKenzie series. I enjoy the local Minneapolis setting of the stories, as the Twin Cities are only 1.5 hours away. This story got very involved, with many plots, characters, and options. There are government agencies involved, several jurisdictions, and past relationships coming back into play. The conclusion of the story was a whirlwind. I will certainly dive into another McKenzie book soon.

[Darcy]

This one got all sorts of complicated and screwy. I liked how McKenzie really had nothing to do with things until the bad guys pulled him in and then he couldn't/wouldn't let things go. I don't blame him for it as things heated up and he got hurt. I thought McKenzie did a good job of keeping ahead of the bad guys and made sure they all got theirs in the end, even if the punishment wasn't as bad as it could have been.

[K.B. Hallman]

What a pleasant find! As I was glancing over the mystery section at the library, this title caught my eye. It is the kind of title I associate with Golden Age British mysteries and modern cozies. It is neither, and it is quite a good heist caper. This is the second new-to-me series I've encountered this week. I'm always happy to find new authors with backlists to devour.

[Vontel]

I have an inkling I read this book a few years ago, probably pre-Goodreads. I was more than halfway through before some of it seemed a bit familiar. Interesting read, always entertaining. How plausible a plot in the art, art museum, and greed world, I don't know.

[T.G. Wolff]

Trouble had a slow day and so she went looking for her favorite troublemaker, McKenzie. This time he's on the trail of a high priced piece of jade. Nothing is ever easy. Or dull. Or boring. I'm a McKenzie fan and this one didn't disappoint.

[Kristi]

I normally enjoy David Housewright mysteries especially because they are set here in Minneapolis. I was disappointed that the author seemed to focus more on being clever than presenting a good mystery. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Joan Skinner]

McKenzie is inexplicably asked to be a go-between for art thieves wanting a reward for the jade lily that they had stolen. This turns out more difficult than it sounded. There are murders and more than a few extra people involved in solving the crime and recovering the artwork.

[Debra]

This was a fun kind of romp, but too many characters to follow. Some new ones though that were a hoot. I hope they turn up in future books. McKenzie does solve the robbery and the murders and manages to get mangled in the doings. Several laughs during this adventure too. I love that.

[Rhonda Gilliland]

This one was hilarious with all kinds of crazy characters This was Mac's smartass at it's best. The end where he's Morris the Explainer in the boardroom is a riot.

[Edward]

Maybe because I took a break in the middle of this book I didn't see the plot lines come together as they were wrapped up by McKenzie at the end of the book. Still, good read.

[Dave White]

I really enjoy his writing.
I stumbled on his writing at the library and have been seeking titles since.
Don't know if it great literature but it's an enjoyable way to spend the time.

[Steve Payne]

Another fun and exciting trip with McKenzie. Lots of twists and turns with a few shootings and even an explosion thrown in for good measure. Lots of interesting characters with questionable morals.

[Brandi]

Another wonderful book. I like that there were a lot of people involved and each has their own reasons.

[Kim]

Like this series set in MSP area.

[Julie]

Not as quick a read as most of his books have been

[Mary]

Alost a 4 star.