David Housewright


David Housewright is an Edgar Award-winning author of crime fiction and past President of the Private Eye Writers of America best known for his Holland Taylor and Rushmore McKenzie detective novels as well as other tales of murder and mayhem in the Midwest. Housewright won the Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America as well as a nomination from the PWA for his first novel "Penance." He has also earned three Minnesota Book Awards. Most of his novels take place in and around the greater St. Paul and Minneapolis area of Minnesota, USA and have been favorably compared to Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald and Robert B. Parker.

Biography

Housewright was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is the son of Eugene Housewright, Sr., a businessman, and Patricia Langevin Housewright. He attended Cretin High School, where he was editor of the school newspaper until he was fired for printing an editorial opposing the Vietnam War. “I attended an all-boys Catholic military school during the height of Vietnam war. Of course they fired me. You would have fired me, too,” Housewright told the Wild River Review. He earned a degree in Journalism from the University of St. Thomas. He now lives with his wife, writer and theater critic Renee Marie Valois, in Roseville, Minnesota.

Career

Literary career

Housewright’s first book, Penance, which introduced detective Holland Taylor, won the 1996 Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and was short listed for a Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. The second book in the series, Practice to Deceive won the 1998 Minnesota Book Award and was optioned for the movies. In 2004, he introduced unlicensed P.I. Rushmore McKenzie with A Hard Ticket Home. The sixth novel in the series, Jelly’s Gold also won the Minnesota Book Award, as did Curse of the Jade Lily. Tin City, The Taking of Libbie, SD and Stealing the Countess were also nominated for the same prize. In 2012, Housewright released two stand-alone novels – The Devil and the Diva – a 2013 Minnesota Book Award nominee – and a young adult crime novel entitled Finders Keepers. He was elected President of the Private Eye Writers of America in June, 2014. That same year the Minnesota Historical Society and The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library added Housewright's name and face to Minnesota Writers on the Map, joining accomplished writers Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Maud Hart Lovelace, Laura Ingalls Wilder, August Wilson, Louise Erdrich, William Kent Krueger and Charles M. Schulz.

Advertising career

Before starting a career as a novelist, Housewright worked as a copywriter and creative director for Twin Cities advertising agencies such as Kamstra Communications, DBK&O, Blaisdell & Westlie and his own shop Gerber-Housewright, as well as Andersen Windows. His clients included Federal Express, 3M, Hormel Foods, Tony's Pizza, Jim Beam, the California Institute of Technology, Champion Batteries, and Partnership for a Drug-Free America. His work has been cited for a number of industry awards including the CLIO, One Show, Communication Arts, The Show, Silver Microphone, Telly, Olivers, Pro-Comm, ACE, IABC, ARC, ECHO, and NAMA and has been featured in ADWEEK, Archive and ADS magazines.

Journalism career

Housewright honed his research, interviewing, writing and editing skills while working as a news and sports reporter for the Owatonna People’s Press, Minneapolis Tribune, Albert Lea Evening Tribune and the Grand Forks Herald. His articles have also appeared in publications such as Format Magazine, ADWEEK, Crimespree Magazine and The History Channel Magazine..

Teaching career

Housewright’s success as a novelist led to an invitation to teach a course on the Modern American Mystery Novel at the University of Minnesota. He frequently works as a writing instructor for the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he teaches a course on novel writing.

Works

Holland Taylor series

  1. Penance – Edgar Award Winner Best First Novel from Mystery Writers of America, Shamus nominee Private Eye Writers of America
  2. Practice to Deceive – 1998 Minnesota Book Award winner
  3. Dearly Departed
  4. Darkness, Sing Me a Song
  5. ''First, Kill the Lawyers''

    Rushmore McKenzie series

  6. A Hard Ticket Home
  7. Tin City – 2006 Minnesota Book Award nominee
  8. Pretty Girl Gone –
  9. Dead Boyfriends
  10. Madman On A Drum
  11. Jelly's Gold – 2010 Minnesota Book Award winner
  12. The Taking of Libbie, SD – 2011 Minnesota Book Award nominee
  13. Highway 61
  14. Curse of the Jade Lily – 2013 Minnesota Book Award winner
  15. The Last Kind Word
  16. The Devil May Care
  17. Unidentified Woman #15
  18. Stealing the Countess - 2017 Minnesota Book Award nominee
  19. What the Dead Leave Behind
  20. Like To Die
  21. Dead Man's Mistress
  22. From the Grave
  23. What Doesn't Kill Us
  24. Something Wicked
  25. In a Hard Wind
  26. ''Man in the Water''

    Stand-alone novels

  • The Devil and the Diva – written with Renee Valois – 2013 Minnesota Book Award nominee
  • Finders Keepers
  • ''Dracula Wine''

    Short stories

  • "Kids Today"
  • "How To Trick Any Woman Into Having Sex
  • "A Domestic Matter"
  • "Mai-Nu’s Window"
  • "Miss Behavin’"
  • "Last Laugh"
  • "Time of Death"
  • "Obsessive Behavior"
  • "A Turn of the Card" (Fifteen Tales of Murder, Mayhem and Malice From the Land of Minnesota Nice, 2012 Nodin Press