Fatal Judgment
An Andy Hayes Mystery
Published on 31. August 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-0-8040-1256-0 (ISBN)
Description
Judge Laura Porter fiercely guarded her privacy, and never more so than during her long-running-and long in the past-affair with disgraced quarterback-turned-private investigator Andy Hayes. Now she's missing, disappeared just hours after she calls Andy out of the blue explaining she's in trouble and needs his help.
A trail of clues leads Andy to a central Ohio swamp whose future lies in the judge's hands as she weighs a lawsuit pitting environmentalists against developers. Soon Hayes encounters the case of another missing person, a young man who vanished without a trace in a different swamp two counties away. As he looks for links between the two disappearances, Hayes is led from Columbus to Cleveland, unearthing a history of secrets and betrayals threatening not just the judge but her family as well.
Along the way, Hayes is forced to confront a newly strained relationship with his older son, now a budding football star himself, and revisit his tumultuous days as a Cleveland Browns quarterback and the gridiron failures that haunt him to this day. In partnership with a cop on her own quest for justice, Hayes rushes to find the judge, and the truth, before it's too late.
A trail of clues leads Andy to a central Ohio swamp whose future lies in the judge's hands as she weighs a lawsuit pitting environmentalists against developers. Soon Hayes encounters the case of another missing person, a young man who vanished without a trace in a different swamp two counties away. As he looks for links between the two disappearances, Hayes is led from Columbus to Cleveland, unearthing a history of secrets and betrayals threatening not just the judge but her family as well.
Along the way, Hayes is forced to confront a newly strained relationship with his older son, now a budding football star himself, and revisit his tumultuous days as a Cleveland Browns quarterback and the gridiron failures that haunt him to this day. In partnership with a cop on her own quest for justice, Hayes rushes to find the judge, and the truth, before it's too late.
Reviews / Votes
"Readers who love old-fashioned detective novels will be in hog heaven as they tear into Welsh-Huggins' latest adventure featuring Andy Hayes." (Booklist) "Fatal Judgment-like its predecessors-offers multiple rewards and further evidence of its author's prowess." (The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, MD)) "Intriguing ... fans of Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone books will be pleased." (Publishers Weekly) "Andy Hayes, failed quarterback turned private eye, drives right up the middle of a complex mystery involving politics, special interests, old secrets, and big money. In unfamiliar territory, Andy is armed only with abundant sarcasm and stubborn determination. Andrew Welsh-Huggins writes expertly and compellingly." - Steve Goble, author of the Spider John historical mysteries Praise for the Andy Hayes Mystery Series:"Andrew Welsh-Huggins proves himself a master of heartland noir."
- William Kent Krueger, author of the Cork O' Connor mysteries Praise for the Andy Hayes Mystery Series:
"An anti-immigrant attack propels Welsh-Huggins's timely fifth mystery featuring Columbus, Ohio, PI Andy Hayes....Welsh-Huggins educates and entertains as he explores immigrant issues through his empathetic hero's investigation."
(Publishers Weekly (for The Third Brother)) Praise for the Andy Hayes Mystery Series:
"[Welsh-Huggins] excels at storytelling. With a reporter's eye and a novelist's flair, he raises the bar with each entry in his series. And his deepening development of Andy adds gravitas."
(Richmond Times-Dispatch) Praise for the Andy Hayes Mystery Series:
"Welsh-Huggins has a way with language...[He] is an Associated Press reporter, and the urge to bring the news is an unkillable one."
(Booklist)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Ohio
United States
Publishing group
Ohio University Press
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8040-1256-0 (9780804012560)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Andrew Welsh-Huggins is the Shamus, Derringer, and International Thriller Writers award-nominated author of the Andy Hayes private eye series; author of the standalone crime novel The End of the Road; and editor of the Columbus Noir anthology. His short mystery fiction has appeared in multiple magazines, including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and in many anthologies, including The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021; Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties; and Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon. His nonfiction book, No Winners Here Tonight, is the definitive history of the death penalty in Ohio.