Description
Book SynopsisPrivate eye Andy Hayes’ mission seems clear: locate a man who shot a Columbus police officer forty years earlier, then disappeared without a trace. But soon, Hayes discovers a years-long string of murders that lead him down a harrowing path of conspiracy and deception.
Trade Review“Columbus PI Andy Hayes never disappoints, and An Empty Grave is no exception. This latest installment of the Andy Hayes Series hooks readers from page 1 with all the ingredients for suspense. With a keen eye for fascinating crime and clever prose, Andrew Welsh-Huggins is a writer that will leave detective fiction fans in hard-boiled heaven.”
“An Empty Grave is an excellent mystery featuring a recognizably human investigator. Readers will identify with Andy and admire his strengths and the dedication he brings to his clients.” * Marilyn's Mystery Reads *
“A first-rate storyteller, Welsh-Huggins … masters depth of characterization as he further explores the personal life of twice-divorced Andy as he copes with a complex love life, the teenage angst of his two sons and his checkered past. Often violent, always stirring and profoundly affecting, An Empty Grave displays Welsh-Huggins at his creative and deft best as a talented practitioner of crime fiction at once dark and humane.” * Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star *
“The seventh ‘Andy Hayes’ mystery, following
Fatal Judgment, is a satisfying, complex story for readers who enjoy hard-boiled private eyes who struggle with their personal lives.” * Library Journal *
“Welsh-Huggins has created a truly hard-boiled, streetwise detective that, in spite of a tarnished history, some severe character flaws, and an acidic tongue, has survived and thrived in this series. And likeably so.”
“The grave is empty and the murderers are loose in Welsh-Huggins’s latest thriller. In this exhilarating mash-up of wry wit, dogged detective work, and lethal adversaries, PI Andy Hayes exhumes a forty-year-old cold case loaded with mystery and mayhem. A compelling, up-to-the-minute read.”
“
An Empty Grave, the latest gripping installment in the PI Andy Hayes series, will hook you from page one. Hayes, the deeply flawed ex-football-player-turned-private-eye reluctantly takes on the case of a possible cover-up in the disappearance of a high-profile burglar who shot a cop in 1979 and then disappeared. With a journalist’s eye for details, clever, muscular prose, and dialogue as sharp as cut glass, this is Welsh-Huggins’s best yet.”
“Just when the plot seems to be taking a turn to the unbelievable, Welsh-Huggins reins it in and introduces a thread that reminds readers how society has changed from the 1970s to the present. Clearly, Welsh-Huggins has pounded the central Ohio pavement in his day job, with the benefit of being able to pack his novel with streets, neighborhoods, restaurants and other locations readers will recognize.” * The Columbus Dispatch *
“[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 *
