Slow Burn: An Andy Hayes Mystery

Andy Hayes Mysteries #2

by Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Almost two years have passed since Aaron Custer supposedly set a fire at a house in Columbus that killed three college students, including the young woman with whom he had argued just hours before. Prosecutors had an ironclad case against Custer, a convicted firebug whose fingerprints were found on the lighter that started the blaze and who quickly pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.Private investigator and fallen Ohio State football star Andy Hayes is skeptical when Custer’s grandmother asks him to reopen the investigation by finding a mysterious witness who may have seen the real culprit that night. Andy’s doubts fade as he uncovers a tangle of motives for the victims’ deaths, implicating the state’s natural gas fracking boom, drug dealers, and more. But to delve deeper, Andy must once again make amends with his past. TV reporter Suzanne Gregory, a former fiancée, has more information on the Orton Avenue fire than any journalist in town, but asking for her help means reopening old wounds—just as Andy has embarked on a new relationship he’s determined not to screw up. As Andy follows Custer’s trail down ever-darker paths, he must revisit his past and decide whether he can afford to forfeit his future.

Author and reviewer Bill Osinski called Fourth Down and Out, the first of the Andy Hayes mysteries, “A tall, frosty stein of Middle-American noir, backed with a healthy shot of wry.” In this second installment, Andrew Welsh-Huggins draws on real events and current affairs to bring his city to life—warts and all.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

312 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2015

About the author

ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS is the Shamus Award-nominated author of the Andy Hayes private eye series, the standalone crime novel "The End of the Road," and editor of "Columbus Noir." His short fiction has appeared in "Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine," "Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine," Mystery Magazine," the anthologies "The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021," "Mickey Finn 21st Century Noir: Vols I and III," "Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon," and other magazines and anthologies. Andrew's nonfiction book, "No Winners Here Tonight," is the definitive history of the death penalty in Ohio.

Reviews

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really more of a 3 1/2. I liked this one and it went a lot faster than the first. It didn’t feel like there were as many threads as there were in the first or maybe it was just that I knew the character better. Didn’t see the ending coming🤗

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaron Custer is in prison for starting a fire that killed 3 college students, a crime he pleaded guilty to, even though he has absolutely no recollection of doing it. His grandmother believes he is innocent and she hires PI, Andy Hayes to prove it. Very interesting story, but at times I was overwhelmed with all the cast of characters and getting confused with who was who. As Andy delves into his investigation he begins to realize the case involves more than the fire.

[Katie Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Columbus, Ohio native is a great mystery writer. This book is set in Columbus, and it's fun to read the references to the Short North, downtown, Dublin, and more. great book!

[Miriam Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andy (Woody) Hayes, Ohio State University Football player turned private investigator is searching for a possible witness to a fire that killed three college students and injured another two years before.
Along the way, he stumbles upon a fracking controversy centered in Knox County. When the two cases intersect, Hayes has his work cut out for him.

As the second in the series, this book picks at loose threads from #1 and spins them out.

With less violence, this book is more enjoyable, especially for Columbusites who will recognize most of the streets and landmarks. Read the book in long sittings to keep the tension tight.

Look for a longer review in the Ohioana Library Quarterly http://www.ohioana.org

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really enjoying this series about Andy Hayes, a former OSU football player turned private eye. Not only are they set in Columbus, my home, but they have interesting plots that are cleverly woven into suspenseful stories. In this book, Andy is hired by the grandmother of a convicted arsonist to look into the possibility of his innocence. In Columbus some years ago there really was a tragic fire off campus that killed several OSU students.

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d actually rate this 3.5-375. I’m not sure why I started by reading the second novel in the series; maybe the library and Thriftbooks didn’t have the first book in? Anyhow, there is a huge cast of characters to keep track of, and a sizable slug of scientific and technical language about fracking that left me rather lost. I have ordered the first book in the series, hoping it will clarify the relationships in the novel I read.
The premise is intriguing. A man who was a huge sports ended up with a major scandal that torched his career. He’s become a PI, but is still avoiding the area of Ohio where he was known. Then a little old lady contacts him to check into an arson that her grandson was incarcerated for. The boy was totally drunk, and had no memory of what happened that night, which could be because of the alcohol or the massive beating he got after the fire. There are complicated issues involving drugs, fracking, politics, journalism, and inheritances.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Andy Hayes mystery series, and is set in Columbus, OH. In this one Andy solves an old arson case on campus, and helps free the alleged perpetrator. I met the author at a Thurber House talk last year, and he said his goal was to show that Columbus can provide just as good a background for a mystery series as Chicago, NY.... So there is lots of name-dropping of Columbus places, which made it fun for me. It was a good story, but not sure of it's appeal outside of Ohio.

[Laura Scribner · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, I cannot believe it’s taken me almost a year to finish this book; that’s insane. I’m sorry Bernadette or Casey; whomever loaned it to me!

It’s probably because it took me ages to finish it that I found it somewhat confusing in the who’s who and who did what regard. But I did, and I don’t blame all of it on the length of time it took me to finish it.

This book is like... 95% people talking back and forth. Almost screenplay-ish, and that was not a style I liked. I found it really hard to connect to any character (or remember them, over extended periods of time).

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining. Andy seems to be a magnet for trouble.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story line and characters.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of Columbus references that are kind of fun!

[Amy Gregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been born & lived in the Columbus area my entire life I really enjoyed reading this & being able to know exactly the areas he described throughout the book!

[Dora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, suspenseful read. Funny to read all the Columbus-area name dropping.

[Joyce Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Columbus PI with lots of local references makes it fun to read.

[Janis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. 2 main plots. Both interesting. Lots of characters. I had trouble keeping them straight.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of characters and details to follow / put together throughout the 300pp of location-based PI-noir.

As with the first book in the series, living here brought it home and made it fun to travel around town with Andy Hayes and traipse around some of my favorite parts of the city.

Overall, an enjoyable, quick read.