For PI Iris Raines, tracking down a missing witness should have been routine. Instead, bullets fly, blood spills, and an explosion tears through her family’s law office, leaving two people dead in the rubble. Suddenly, Iris isn’t just chasing a witness—she’s chasing the truth behind a firestorm that threatens to leave her family in financial ruin and destroy everything she holds dear. But the bodies piling up aren’t random, and the trail doesn’t end with the flames. Iris finds herself unraveling a conspiracy of blackmail, corruption, and murder that no one else dares to connect. The cops don’t believe her, the criminals want her gone, and the powerful players in the middle will do whatever it takes to shut her up. Too bad for them—Iris doesn’t scare easy. She’s sharp-tongued, stubborn, and—push come to shove—more than willing to bend a few rules to get to the truth. She may be standing alone against a gang of pit-viper lawyers and their crooked clients, a den of government corruption, and a faceless killer who knows way too much about her, but she’s not backing down. Because for Iris Raines, the only thing worse than dying is letting the bad guys get away with it. Fast, darkly funny, and impossible to put down, Hell to Pay is the first book in the Iris Raines Mystery series—perfect for readers who love razor-edged heroines, twisty investigations, and a story that doesn’t flinch when the bullets start flying. Fans of Kinsey Millhone, V.I. Warshawski, and Elvis Cole will find a new favorite in Iris Raines. Start reading Hell to Pay today! Prologue I should have stuck with finding dead people. I’m really good at that. I always find them—dead people, I mean. They’re buried someplace, and they never move. No change-of-address cards, no aliases…just dead guys in boxes. You find the dead guy, you find his heirs, you give them their money, you get paid. Everybody’s happy. Instead, it’s after two in the morning, and I’m pulling out of the parking lot of our temporary offices. I’ve spent a long night, preceded by a long day, tracking down a witness who went missing the day before trial. I look across the street at the office building where the Raines family has practiced law for fifty years and where my fathers raised me…just in time to see it explode. "...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.' ... a rewarding read for fans of private-eye procedurals. ..." --Kirkus Reviews Hell to Pay is a fast-moving crime mystery that follows Iris Raines, a private investigator whose long night of chasing down a missing witness explodes into something far bigger...The plot blends gritty street crime with legal drama and emotional fallout, and the mystery keeps widening as Iris realizes the disaster may have deeper roots than anyone wants to admit. What struck me first was how quickly I settled into Iris's voice. She feels sharp, funny, and deeply human all at once. One minute she's dodging gunfire in a trash-strewn alley, the next she's cracking a joke to keep herself steady, and somehow both moments feel true. The writing has that crisp, no-nonsense energy you expect from a crime mystery, but it also lingers in the moments that count... Those emotional beats helped me feel anchored even when the plot moved fast. I also appreciated the author's choices around relationships...Sure, the book has gang shootouts, legal maneuvering, and explosions that shake entire blocks, but it also has tiny, quiet moments where people choose to take care of one another... The mystery feels grounded, like something that could happen in a city where money, politics, and corner-cutting collide. And it never forgets the personal cost. Iris isn't solving a puzzle for the thrill of it...She's fighting to keep the people she loves alive and to protect the witnesses who fall into her orbit, whether they want to or not. I'd say Hell to Pay is perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven crime mysteries with a mix of danger, sarcasm, heart, and legal intrigue. If you like stories where the investigator has as much going on inside as she does outside, this one will land well. It's gritty without being bleak, emotional without dragging, and smart without feeling showy. Fans of mysteries with messy heroes will feel right at home. — Literary Titan