Colin Fischer

In this modern-day Sherlock Holmes, a brilliant young mind armed with index cards decides to step in and prove that the school bully is . . . innocent?

“The tension between the brilliant crime-solver and the boy more in need of friendship than he ever realized is what makes Colin such a memorable character.”—J.M. DeMatties, award-winning author of Brooklyn Dreams

“Colin is like an alien anthropologist stranded on Earth, with no choice but to master the local social codes and try to pass as human, or perish.”—Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians

Solving crime, one facial expression at a time . . .

Colin Fischer just started his freshman year of high school. He has flash cards with hand-labeled facial expressions, an uncanny knowledge of genetics and classic cinema, and a tattered, dog-eared notebook that he uses to record his experiences with the “very interesting” population around him.

But when a handgun goes off in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate’s birthday celebration, Colin is the only one for the investigation. It’s up to him to prove that Wayne Connelly, the school bully and Colin’s frequent tormenter, didn’t bring the gun to school. After all, Wayne didn’t have frosting on his hands, and there was white frosting found on the grip of the smoking gun. . . .