I read a review of Tim Sullivan’s  Detective Sergeant George Cross series and decided to give it a try. Cross is a police investigator with Asperger’s syndrome. He struggles with conventional conversations and social mores but is a genius at solving crimes. The first book in the series, The Dentist, starts with the murder of a homeless man who is later revealed to have been a successful dentist. But the unsolved murder of his wife led him to leave his practice and investigate the death that police left unsolved. Now, Cross uncovers a connection to a 15-year-old cold case involving the dead dentist and his murdered wife. 

The Cyclist continues Cross’s investigations into seeming random crimes that turn out to be more complex and sinister. Cross’s partner, a black single mother, finds dealing with the odd antics of this gifted investigator irritating. But, like the head of the Detectives, she cuts Cross slack because he has a 97% conviction rate–the best in the Police Department. When a young amateur cyclist is found dead at a demolition site, Cross uncovers a maze of performance-enhancing drugs, jealousy, and family secrets.

With The Patient, Tim Sullivan expands George Cross’s personal Life with his father–a retired engineer who worked on the Concorde. His father has become a hoarder and Cross takes action when his father falls amid all the stuff he’s collected over the years. Also, Cross reaches out to the mother who abandoned him and his father years ago. The Patient is a young woman whose death has been ruled a suicide but Cross–with his intense focus on Logic and Data–believes she was murdered. Uncovering the complicated past of the victim and her “drug overdose” death requires Cross’s skill to solve the puzzle.

The Politician is former Mayor, Peggy Frampton. Initially, Frampton’s death looks like a burglary gone wrong. But Cross finds indications that the former Mayor was murdered. After Frampton retired from office, she became a controversial on-line influencer who gave “advice” to her many followers. But she was threatened by trolls issuing death threats. Also in the mix is Frampton’s gambling addicted son, her philandering husband, and Albanian gangsters. Because this is a High Profile case, Cross and the rest of the detectives are under intense public pressure to solve the case. Using proven police procedures and impressive detection skills, Cross cuts through the web of suspects and motives to find the real killer.

Tim Sullivan, a veteran director and screenwriter, has created a sympathetic autistic detective, Detective Sergeant George Cross, who struggles with social situations, but is a wizard at solving intricate crimes. I’ll be reading the rest of the books in this excellent series! GRADE: A

DS Cross Mysteries:

1 The Dentist (2020)
2 The Cyclist (2020)
3 The Patient (2022)
4 The Politician (2022)
5 The Monk (2023)
6 The Teacher (2023)
7 The Bookseller (2025)
The Basket Case (2025)
8 The Tailor (2026)