Book Review: The Mackenzie August Universe

A big thank-you to my work buddy Jen for putting together a book review for this week's blog! I'm out of the office but still wanted to publish, and she came through for me with a review of a series that I think many of you will be interested in. Thanks, Jen! —Emma

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I asked Emma if I could write this guest blog post specifically because she and part of her audience live in Virginia. 

I get daily BookBub recommendations for new books to try that generally cost between $.99-$2.99. I have recently been devouring a book series that I found through one of those dangerous daily emails. 

The Mackenzie August Universe

Roanoke Star on Mill Mountain

The mystery series, written by author Alan Lee (née Janney) is known by some fans as the Mackenzie August Universe. Nearly all of them take place in Roanoke, Virginia. 

Lee began his writing career writing young adult fiction. He didn’t want his younger readers to follow him to the more adult themes of the Mackenzie August universe, so he adopted a pen name.

The book I started with is a stand-alone called The Last Teacher, which was a perfect way to start the series. 

Mackenzie August is a former Los Angeles detective who, weary from a particularly violent series of nationally known murders, relocates to Roanoke with his 8-month-old son, Kix, to be near his father. 

The first book grabbed me within the first two pages, because of Mackenzie’s distinctive voice and sense of humor. These books are peppered with witty dialogue, which I cannot resist. Mackenzie takes a job as a high school English teacher, and shortly after he begins his new career, he finds one of his colleagues murdered on the school grounds. Thus, he is pulled back once again into the world of violence and murder. 

I want to recommend this series for a number of reasons: 

• Mackenzie August is brilliant, sarcastic, and highly principled. He is working on his relationship with God–but not in a didactic or preachy way. His primary focus is living with integrity, and 11 books into the 13-book series, I have seen no deviation. 

• The author is hilarious. His goal is to be your new favorite mystery writer for the next 20 years, and I think he might just do it. 

• The supporting characters we see throughout the series: 

  • Timothy August, elementary school principal and father of Mackenzie. He buys a house and Mackenzie and Kix move in with him. And they are just the first. 

  • Sheriff Stackhouse, the aptly named Sheriff who got elected for her pretty face and surgical enhancements, but stayed elected because she’s hard as nails. 

  • Veronica Summers, a Jimmy Choo-wearing defense attorney, Mackenzie’s love interest, who has a dark, complicated past that reverberates through several of the books. 

  • Manuel Martinez, a rogue U.S. Marshall who was raised in Argentina, but loves the United States almost beyond reason. He worked with Mackenzie in LA, but shows up one day without explanation and begins sleeping on Mackenzie’s bedroom floor with a .357 under his pillow. Manny can best be described as “Patriotic,” and second best as “Rogue.” 

  • Noelle Beck, the Mormon NSA Agent who ends up partnering with Manny. 

  • Marcus Morgan, the Episcopalian local drug lord who knows that drugs are here to stay, that he is better than the alternatives, and likes Mackenzie August in spite of himself. 

  • Kix, Mackenzie’s son, whose own origin story is initially misleading. He is a baby, but the author frequently has him engage in witty (imaginary) dialogues with the adults who surround him at dinner. 

Mackenzie ends up working as a private investigator, but his cases are secondary to his character development and his relationships with the recurring characters threaded through the books. 

Since beginning the series, Lee has begun writing two spin-off series, one for Sheriff Stackhouse, and one for Manuel and Noelle. I have read two of the Manuel Series and they are just as fun as Mackenzie August. 

I have actually slowed down reading on the series because I don’t know if the author can outpace my appetite for the books, and I don’t want to be done yet. I have a feeling these are books I will revisit in the future. 

So, if you like witty, rapid-fire dialogue, a steady cast of compelling characters, and a good mystery/thriller, I suggest you give this series a try. Lee self-publishes, so his books are $3.99 tops–unless you get the occasional deal for $1.99 on BookBub.