Into the Fire

Chasing the Pain by Matthew Iden is Book 8 of 8 so far in A Marty Singer Mystery Series.  

Marty Singer is famous for doing things to help people he wishes he'd say no to doing. He can't help himself. Give him enough of a mystery, the threat of harm to a friend – or in this case a crusty associate – and he can't resist going all in to find out what's happened or what's going on. 

When the ex-wife (Elizabeth) of the former US Marshal Karl Schovasa (he met when trying to make a gangster's nephew escape and disappear) contacts Marty with a note she found in Schovasa's condo, after arguing with himself not to get involved, he succumbs to his usual curiosity and, after processing information about a particular local rehab clinic that whisks clients/patients off to a Florida rehab center assuring them that their insurance will pay for everything, Amanda helps him get set-up with a flight and a room in Palm Beach. 

Marty faces major shock upon his arrival at the B&B Amanda reserved, but after the proprietor holsters the gun he has pointed at Marty's stomach, everything turns out fairly okay. 

Schovasa is missing after following a drug-addicted girl (Meredith, aka Merrie) to the Florida rehab center. The girl happens to look like his daughter who OD'd several years before. Whether or not motivated by guilt or just trying to save a life, Marty determines Schovasa isn't at the clinic.

Turns out Marty's lodging's proprietor who is as colorful as a character can possibly be is a former cop who recreated himself after an incident with a niece's boyfriend. He knows all about addiction after his experiences with his niece. 

In the crazy course of events and information gathering, which involves finding Merrie but not Schovasa, the two former cops find a warehouse where horrors greet them along with one of the masterminds running the scam of these clinics and treatment centers who makes them an offer they can't refuse. If there was any other option, they would've have taken it. 

It's a convoluted mystery where dead-ends and some law-breaking occurs but only with the best of intentions – at least that's what Marty must tell himself. It's a sad commentary on addictions but not unfamiliar to those who've seen what it can do to people. 

By the end of it all, Marty just wants to go home, but he's in no way satisfied with how it concluded. Will that dissatisfaction lead to a recurring possibility in another book? Since Chasing the Pain is the last so far in the series, I hope we'll see justice finally served in a future story.

A very entertaining mystery series, and I highly recommend it if you enjoy complex mysteries and/or police procedurals. You get one and/or both in Matthew Iden's A Marty Singer Mystery Series. 

Profanity present. 

Father, please continue to bless Matthew's writing and story-telling. And may he know from whom his talent comes. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.