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- Sick to Death
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After years of personal and professional turmoil, things are finally looking up for Columbus, Ohio, private eye Andy Hayes. As Sick to Death opens, Andy is relishing his new gig: a drama-free, family-friendly stint as a guard at the Columbus Museum of Art. What could be better than regular hours, a steady paycheck, and an attractive coworker who may be just as interested in him as he is in her?
Right on schedule, Andy’s newfound equilibrium comes crashing down when he interrupts the theft of a painting by famed Ashcan school realist George Bellows—and is promptly fired for breaking museum protocols. Helping him thwart the robbers is a young woman whom Andy has caught staring at him several times at the museum. To his shock, she reveals she’s an adult daughter he never knew he had, the result of a one-night stand during his misspent youth a quarter century earlier. But Alex Rutledge, about to enter the Columbus Police Academy, isn’t looking for family time. She wants to hire her newly discovered father to find the driver who killed her mother, Kate, five months earlier in a still unsolved hit-skip accident.
Even as Andy reels from this personal development, he uncovers troubling details about Kate’s death that increasingly point toward murder and an angry anti-vax sentiment roiling below the surface at the hospital where she worked. Complicating Andy’s case, he finds himself in the crosshairs of an FBI investigation into the attempted art theft. With time running out and his and Alex’s lives on the line, Andy rushes to defend his reputation as a private eye and find Kate’s killer.
Andrew Welsh-Huggins is the author of the critically acclaimed Mercury Carter thriller series, including The Mailman and the upcoming sequel, The Delivery; the stand-alone crime novel The End of the Road; and the Shamus Award–nominated Andy Hayes private eye series. Andrew also edited the anthology Columbus Noir, and his mystery and sci-fi short stories have appeared in multiple magazines and anthologies, including The Best Mystery Stories of the Year (2021, 2024, and 2025). His nonfiction title, No Winners Here Tonight, is the definitive history of the death penalty in Ohio.
The eighth in this excellent PI series (following An Empty Grave) also stands alone. Recommended for fans of detectives with a troubled past and a nose for crime. — Library Journal (starred review)
Readers may suspect that this is another family-tinged mystery in a line that maybe started with The Sopranos. Fortunately, the crime-story genre conventions reassert themselves near the end—attention to detail!—and there are surprises. — Booklist
Columbus, Ohio, PI Andy Hayes takes on his most personal case to date, one that challenges his memory of the past and threatens everything he values today. Sick to Death is a must-read from a master of the private eye genre. — Michael Bracken, Anthony, Edgar, and Shamus awards nominee
Andy Hayes is my favorite kind of private eye: smart, resourceful, and the best part, flawed. A real human being who you can root for in Andrew Welsh-Huggins' latest mystery, clever and surprising, pulled from the headlines. Welsh-Huggins knows the secret to good storytelling is to create a compelling protagonist and he has one in Andy Hayes. — Matt Coyle, Anthony, Lefty, and Shamus award-winning author of the Rick Cahill series
This is a solid p.i. novel with likeable characters, realistic situations, and good detection. Sick to Death is the first in this series that I’ve read, but I’ll look out for more of the series in the future. — George Easter, Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine
Review in Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine (Fall 2024)
“Pandemic Plots: Mysteries Set During Covid,” Crime Reads (October 1, 2024)
Interview with the author, Buckeye Book Fair (September 30, 2024)
Review on KRL News & Reviews (September 27, 2024)
"WWAD: What Would Andy Do?" SleuthSayers (September 26, 2024)
Review in the Akron Beacon Journal (September 22, 2024)
Interview on the Story Blender Podcast (September 5, 2024)
Interview on the House of Mystery Radio on NBC (September 4, 2024)
Review in Booklist — (September 2024; subscription or trial required to access)