Cocktails with Andy Siegel

Today on Drinks with Reads, Andy Siegel joins us to celebrate his Tug Wiler series of mysteries. 

The new books—Nelly’s Case, Elton’s Case, and Jenna’s Case—which demonstrate the rush to cover up genuine wrongs, will thrust readers headfirst into the emotionally charged high-stakes arena of medical malpractice law. 

In Nelly’s Case, two girls walk into a dentist’s office … but only one walks out. Yet it’s no joke, and there isn’t a punch-line. Discovering exactly what happened to Nelly in that dental chair, anesthesia infusing, and who was responsible lies at the book’s center. The fact that a witness was on hand—Jessie, her half-sister—looks a distinct advantage. But the closer Tug gets to the truth the more elusive it becomes.

In Elton’s Case, could it have happened that, while being transported with less than suitable care in a police van, while wrongfully locked up for a crime he didn’t commit, Elton suffered injuries rendering him a paraplegic in a wheelchair for the past decade? In this twister, Tug finds himself caught in the unlikeliest of conflicts. After all, what’s he supposed to think when the defendant, the City of New York, begins offering him millions to settle while at the same time maintaining its allegation that Elton’s case is a phony one?

In Jenna’s Case, a bright, outgoing, and ace Brooklyn double-Dutch jump-roper is now a nearly mute shadow of her former teen-age self after having had her vulnerability exploited by a doctor without a conscious. As Tug proceeds to amass evidence against the defiant surgeon who’d willfully mutilated Jenna, he soon discovers that the forces set against him are not only more numerous than he’d imagined but also more deadly. 

Now for the attendant cocktail … The Tequila Tug

The Tequila Tug consists of Don Julio 1942 Anejo on ice served in a large stem glass stocked with whole California mandarin orange wedges. The third ingredient—outside the glass—consists of well-grilled asparagus topped with Kosher salt. The best part of this sweet and salty combo: eating the scrumptious tequila infused wedges while racking your brain attempting to solve your favorite Tug Wyler Mystery. 

In Suzy’s Case, the series debut novel (Optioned CBS TV, People Best Beach Read, Suspense Magazine Best Book), Tug finds himself at a bar just after hospital discharge having been run off the road by one of his own client’s. His post-coma craving—which enthralls an attractive bartender mesmerized by coma survivors—is, you guessed it, tequila and asparagus.

Finally, an ambulance chaser that you can root for …