From time to time, I like to try a new crime novelist, not least because the familiar ones just can’t keep churning out books fast enough to satisfy my appetite or, when they do, it starts to feel formulaic. Because I like to read more about a character I enjoy, I tend to particularly look for books that are parts of a series (more opportunities if I enjoy them) and where the protagonist looks likely to be on the side of justice rather than just on the side of themself.

My most recent discovery is Tim Sullivan. He published his first book about Detective Sergeant George Cross, The Dentist, in 2020 and has followed up with several more. That is a bit of a “comedy” name for the protagonist but it is played with a straight bat and I think I can live with it. After all, Charlie Parker is now in my mind also a fine fictional detective thanks to John Connolly’s long series as well as one of the jazz saxophone greats! Cross is a brilliant detective, based in Bristol and with the quirk of suffering from a relatively severe level of Asperger’s syndrome.

I’ve picked up another one that is a bit later in the series. It will be interesting to see if Sullivan addresses how he describes the outlook of his hero. My understanding is that Asperger’s is now formally diagnosed as a form of autism and the reference to Hans Asperger is often deliberately not used because of his Nazi associations from the mid-20th century (see the autism society website for more). It is still used as a self-description by some people with the condition and I wonder if jumping forward two or three years in the sequence reveals a change of nomenclature.

Anyway, if you can cope with the terminology I’ve found so far, you might enjoy it. It also seems to have come out about the same time as the unrelated McDonald and Dodds ITV series, also set in Bristol and with Dodds being another officer who tends to crack the cases because of his unusual diligence and attention to detail. As far as I can see, the TV series has been cancelled over falling ratings but I’m hoping Sullivan can produce some more books that meet the standard of the first.