Books in series
#1
New Yorked
2015
Ashley McKenna is a blunt instrument. Find someone, scare someone, carry something; point him at the job, he gets it done. He generally accepts money upon completion, though a bottle of whiskey works, too—he's comfortable working on a barter system. It's not the career he dreamed about (archeologist) but it keeps him comfortable in his ever-changing East Village neighborhood.
That's until Chell, the woman he loves, leaves him a voicemail looking for help—a voicemail he gets two hours after her body is found. Ash hunts for her killer with the grace of a wrecking ball, running afoul of a drag queen crime lord and stumbling into a hard-boiled role playing game that might be connected to a hipster turf war.
Along the way, he's forced to face the memories of his tumultuous relationship with Chell, his unresolved anger over his father’s death, and the consequences of his own violent tendencies.
New Yorked takes you deep into the seedy underbelly of New York with an unforgettable literary voice steeped in the noir tradition of Lawrence Block's iconic Matthew Scudder. New Yorked is an unforgettable debut novel that stays with you like a glass of the best whiskey.
#2
City of Rose
2015
As an amateur PI with a bent moral compass, Ash McKenna is good at finding people—but not at staying out of trouble. Between his own violent tendencies, the shadow cast by his father's death, and a self-destructive revenge quest, he made a mess of his life in NYC. Figuring it was time for a change of scenery Ash relocated to Portland, taking a job as a bouncer in a vegan strip club. And he hasn't had to hit anyone in six months.
So when one of the club's dancers asks Ash for help finding her daughter, he declines, content to keep the darkness in his past. But soon Ash is held at gunpoint by a man in a chicken mask, and told to keep away from the girls. Unfortunately Ash isn't good at following directions either.
As Ash navigates an unfamiliar city, he finds himself embroiled in a labyrinthine plot involving a ruthless drug cartel and a scandal that could reach one of the most powerful men in Portland. Ash is dead set on finding the missing girl, but realizes that in order to deliver her safely he may have to cross the one line he promised himself he never would.
#2.5
Bad Beat
2016
An Ash McKenna and Pete Fernandez Joint
When beloved college football star Raleigh "The Gun" Davis is suspected of shaving points, sports reporter Pete Fernandez is tasked with digging up all the dirt that's fit to print. Mired in his own mounting personal problems and drinking himself blind, Pete slams into an unexpected brick Ash McKenna, an amateur private investigator with a very bad attitude. Both are looking for the AWOL QB, but their goals run counter to each other—Ash is trying to help an old friend, while Pete is looking to redeem his once-promising journalism career.
What they find is more than they bargained for—and more than they can handle alone. Can the unlikely duo find common ground in time to bust a dangerous crime ring? Or will they get tangled up in their own egos and agendas?
Acclaimed crime writers Rob Hart and Alex Segura pair up for a unique adventure that brings together their series characters Ash McKenna and Pete Fernandez for an untold tale of vice, double-crosses and the back alleys of suburban New Jersey. Before NEW YORKED and SILENT CITY, there was BAD BEAT.
#3
South Village
2016
Ash McKenna used to be an amateur P.I.—emphasis on ‘amateur’. Despite good intentions, he made a mess of his life in New York, so tried to build a new one in Portland. But after a traumatic turn of events, he ends up on a commune in the Georgia woods, binge-drinking cheap whiskey and waiting for his passport to flee the country and nightmares that have followed him.
Then a man is found dead. Known only as ‘Crusty Pete’, the commune dweller is sprawled in the dirt, having fallen from a high rope bridge. It’s written off as an accident, but Ash suspects something more sinister. As he looks into Pete’s death, Ash is shocked to find the supposedly peaceful community houses a rogue faction preparing to commit an unspeakable act of violence.
Ash has to make a choice: run, or put his skills to use and try to stop them. But he doesn’t know who to trust, or where the faction is planning to strike. As he struggles to put a stop to the violence, while keeping his own demons at bay, Ash finds that it’s only a matter of time before one or the other puts him down for good.
#4
The Woman from Prague
2017
Amateur private investigator Ash McKenna's time is about to expire. On his visa, that is. He's been in Prague for nearly three months, working for an apartment rental company, and it's time to move on. As he contemplates his next stop, a man named Roman appears who claims to work for the US government, rattling off a list of Ash's sins. Sins nobody should know. He offers to expunge records and protect Ash...in exchange for a favor.
It sounds simple enough: a handoff on the Charles Bridge where Ash will receive a thumb drive from a young woman named Samantha Sullivan. Ash refuses—so Roman threatens to kill his mother if he doesn't comply. Reluctantly, he agrees to do it.
But as Ash tries to complete the mission, he discovers that the handoff is actually a hit. A person appears and attempts to kill Samantha. Ash gets between them, and ends up in a fight he barely survives. Turns out, the job is more complicated than Roman thought. Ash finds himself in a strange city, outmatched, and stuck inside a dangerous game where nothing and nobody is as they seem—including Samantha. With his mother's life hanging in the balance, this amateur P.I. finds that his newest job is nothing he ever expected: amateur spy.
#5
Potter's Field
2018
The final book in Rob Hart's acclaimed Ash McKenna series shows that Ash can go home again...but it might cost him everything.
Amateur private investigator Ash McKenna is home. After more than a year on the road he's ready to face the demons he ran away from in New York City. And he’s decided what he wants to do with his life: Become a private investigator, for real. Licensed and everything. No more working as a thug for hire. But within moments of stepping off the plane, Ginny Tonic, the drag queen crime lord who once employed him—and then tried to have him killed—asks to see him.
One of her newest drag queen soldiers has gone missing, and Ginny suspects she’s been ensnared by the burgeoning heroin scene on Staten Island. Ginny wants Ash to find her. Because he’s the best, and because he knows Staten Island, his home borough. Ash is hesitant—but Ginny’s offer of $10,000 is enough to get him on his feet. And the thought of a lost kid and a bereft family is too much for him to bear.
He accepts, and quickly learns there’s something much bigger at play. Some very dangerous people are vying for control of the heroin trade on Staten Island, which is recording the highest rate of overdose deaths in the city. As Ash navigates deadly terrain, he find his most dangerous adversary might be his own past. Because those demons he ran away from have been waiting for him to come back.
Authors
Rob Hart
Author · 17 books
Rob Hart is the author of THE PARADOX HOTEL. He also wrote THE WAREHOUSE, which has been sold in more than 20 countries and been optioned for film by Ron Howard, as well as the Ash McKenna crime series, the short story collection TAKE-OUT, and SCOTT FREE with James Patterson. His short stories have been published widely, including “Due on Batuu,” set in the Star Wars universe, which appeared in FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and "Take-Out," which appeared in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2018. He’s worked as a political reporter, the communications director for a politician, and a commissioner for the city of New York. He is the former publisher at MysteriousPress.com and the current class director at LitReactor. He lives in New York City.
Alex Segura
Author · 38 books
Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which the New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice. NPR described the novel as “masterful,” and it received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist. Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, and more. His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. By day he is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Oni Press, with previous stints at Archie Comics and DC Comics. A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.
