David Housewright		the author
the books the author the buzz the cities the bunny advertising services		In my other life I work as a free-lance advertising copywriter, occasionally creating, writing, producing and directing TV spots, among other things. (cont.) Of course, it hasn't been all roses. My publisher, W. W. Norton, dropped my contract following my third novel - Dearly Departed - without any explanation (see the following newspaper article). Still, I can't complain. I have a new publisher - St. Martin's Minotaur. With them I have published five novels - A Hard Ticket Home, Tin City, Pretty Girl Gone, Dead Boyfriends, and Madman On A Drum with Jelly's Gold promised for May, 2009. My short stories have also appeared in several anthologies. I am still gainfully employed as a freelance copywriter. In addition to teaching what little I know at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. You couldn't ask for a better life. It can be difficult; make no mistake. But it is fun. It's the most fun a guy can have. The following was written by Mary Ann Grossmann, Book Editor for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and printed on Sunday, April 11, 2004. "Welcome to my world. The whole business is goofy," David Housewright says cheerfully. The Roseville mystery writer was talking about finding a new home at St. Martin's Press after his career was caught in the volatile world of New York publishing in the late 1990s. It has taken five years for Housewright to get back on track, but now he's celebrating publication of A Hard Ticket Home, which introduces St. Paul ex-cop Rushmore "Mac" McKenzie. Housewright, who grew up in the Desnoyer Park neighborhood, is best known for three mystery/thrillers featuring St. Paul private investigator Holland Taylor. His debut novel, Penance, won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.Practice To Deceive, was a 1998 Minnesota Book Award winner, and Dearly Departed was published in 1999. "My first book was published by Foul Play Press," Housewright recalls. "Between the time I was nominated for the Edgar and the day I won, Foul Play's parent company was bought by W. W. Norton. They offered me money for the second book, and I thought that was great. It was a bigger house and they published Walter Mosley, who was the first person to shake my hand after I won the award. But signing with Norton was a mistake." Although Norton bought Practice To Deceive and Dearly Departed, Housewright thinks the publisher wasn't much interested in having a presence in the mystery genre, and no editor took a personal interest in him or his books. That made him an orphan, one of the bad things that can happen to an author. "I knew the writing was on the wall when a publicist called my house and asked for Steve," he says with amusement. "My wife said, 'Are you looking for David Housewright, the Edgar Award-winning novelist?' and the woman says, 'No, I'm pretty sure his name is Steve.'" More
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