The novel follows a hapless, haunted, faux detective with a mentally disabled side-kick sister looking to solve the murder of a former professor of his. (My wife and I ran a group home full of ‘challenged’ adults with mental disabilities for three years, and one of them is a model for Judy in the novel.) In telling this fictional story, I have learned to love the sidekick sister—and her stammering love for her damaged brother—just as I loved many years ago the afflicted woman on whom the character is based.