Stealling the Countess (Rush McKenzie) by David Housewright

The McKenzie series I've been constantly enjoying for years now. Like clockwork there's a new book every year that may not be very surprising but very entertaining. I compare it to the first few Elvis Cole novels before Crais felt the need to experiment with different ways of telling the story.
Although a hardboiled detective novel there is a certain lighter mood to this series that makes it an enjoying read for all mystery fans.
Ex-cop McKenzie is rich enough to be able to spend time taking on some unofficial PI work. He is asked to find a stolen Stradivarius, a mission that takes him to a small time. There he meets semi-regular Heavenly, a Travis McGee like salvage consultant but with a more criminal bend who's got the same mission. She's becoming more interesting with every novel. Beautiful and smart, I wouldn't be surprised if she's going to star in a novel of her own soon as David Housewright seems to lover her so much as any man she meets.
The chemistry between Heavenly and McKenzie is fun to read, the mystery entertaining and McKenzie one of the most likable PI's out there right now.