HELL TO PAY

In Huddle’s mystery-series starter, a feisty private investigator and forensic genealogist investigates when her family’s building goes up in flames.

Iris Raines was abandoned as a child by a client at the San Antonio law office of brothers Addison and Justis Raines. Later, the same attorneys adopted her. Now 33, she runs her own agency, Raines Investigations, and Raines & Raines—the law firm that first gave her a home—is her largest client. Both businesses operate from temporary offices as their shared building, the Hampe Ewald, undergoes renovations. One night, Iris watches in horror as the Hampe Ewald explodes, killing two people. The disaster worsens when it transpires that the general contractor failed to secure insurance, leaving Raines & Raines liable for the deaths and facing bankruptcy. Determined to uncover the truth, Iris looks into the case with the help of Sean Galen, a computer genius and her best friend. The investigation comes to involve blackmail, missing photographs, and a string of ritualistic murders that may connect to the conflagration. Meanwhile, Iris grapples with lingering PTSD from a kidnapping she experienced the year before—a struggle that threatens both her focus on the case and her burgeoning romance with handsome Barron Claver, whom she meets on a mystery writers’ cruise. Huddle, who’s a retired PI and forensic genealogist herself, grounds the story in realistic detail. However, the legal jargon may deter some readers, and Iris’ genealogy work adds little to the central investigation. The novel’s greatest strength lies in its depiction of Iris and her heartfelt connections with those around her. Her witty banter, especially with Grover Delacourt, the San Antonio Police Department’s deputy chief of investigations, brings a sense of warmth that acts as a balance to the story’s darker elements: “Damn, Iris, it’s eleven at night,” he complains at one point. “Gee, thanks for that temporal update,” Iris responds. “That whole big hand/little hand thing still baffles me.” The mystery wraps up predictably but satisfyingly, making it a rewarding read for fans of private-eye procedurals.

A solid whodunit whose characterization is more intriguing than its central puzzle.