The Bar Is in Hell Hardcover – March 10, 2026

Hard times and bad decisions drove Dan to borrow money from neighborhood mobster Fat Jackie the first time, and bad luck the second. Now he's beaten and handcuffed in a damp basement, hoping Jackie doesn't pull the trigger over ten thousand dollars. But that's just the way some Ash Wednesdays go.Dan and Jackie hated each other in high school, and twenty years later, not much has changed except Jackie's fatter and more dangerous than ever. When his daughter, Lydia, disappears without a trace, Jackie offers Dan a way to settle his debt: find the girl. Simple.The problem is, Dan's not a detective. He's a garbage man with a drinking problem, and Lydia could be in New Mexico or New York or anywhere in between. Desperate, Dan turns to Annie, a waitress trapped in a passionless marriage and hungry for purpose.But the search for Lydia drags her into a world she's not ready for, as the two set off through dive bars, tattoo shops, and the New Mexico desert, where each lead sends them down a darker path, and every shadow hides a fresh new horror. With the clock ticking, a low bar for success, and romance sparking between them, all Dan and Annie need to do is navigate each dead end, find Lydia, figure out what to do about Annie's husband, and survive Jackie's vicious mood swings-all without running out of money for booze.The Bar Is in Hell is a fast-paced race against time, where the only thing more daunting than the grisly tasks at hand are the morning hangovers.Joshua Murray captures the grind of daily life, where laughter is the only defense left against the futility of it all. The Bar Is in Hell is razor-sharp, darkly funny, and a testament to how far someone will crawl through darkness to protect the fragile hope that keeps them alive. Read more