Fatal Judgment
An Andy Hayes Mystery
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Ohio University Press
Published:17th Feb '24
Should be back in stock very soon

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.
“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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
ISBN: 9780804012560
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
264 pages