One brother is a genius who makes crossword books for a living. His twin is a homicide detective. When detective brother goes missing, his wife calls on her brother-in-law to solve the puzzle. Enter Ludwig, the bumbling autistic agoraphobic who now enters the police world of murder mystery. What could possibly go wrong?

These characters are weirdos – I mean, misfits – which is a feature usually reserved for small town cosy mysteries, so this rather intersects genres. Maybe that’s a new approach, as the cosy murder mystery genre is the second most popular published theme after romance. Romance. Boring. There is usually an element of that woven throughout many mysteries, however. My criteria always begins and ends with the writing, and of course, the characters. What appeals to me here is the reluctant savant who accidentally starts solving crimes. And the missing detective’s teenage son, who doesn’t want to admit how adept he is at hacking the police computers. He offers an intriguing aspect. I do like characters who come into their own genius unexpectedly. So, this one is for the curious.