How to Have a Killer Time in DC

A young, gay, autistic travel writer takes a head-spinning detour when murder and romance unbalance his well-planned life and career in this fun, quirky debut mystery . . . For twenty-four-year-old Oliver Popp, autism is just another fact of life. As long as Oliver sticks to a comfortable itinerary planned well in advance, he gets by just fine as a staff writer for Offbeat Traveler magazine. But a curveball drops into Oliver's budding career when his first feature assignment takes him to Washington, DC, to chronicle the latest tourism trends. His freelance project photographer is Ricky Warner, a gregarious and impulsively adorable shot of adrenaline. If the flirty gay photographer isn't enough to unbalance shy Oliver at the get-go, there's also an unsettling chance encounter with old acquaintance, Elise Perkins, and a congressional hearing that's shaking up both the capitol and an entrepreneurial billionaire. The unexpected distractions soon collide-quite literally-when Elise is struck dead by a speeding car. Funny how she didn't move and didn't scream. She just stared it down like she knew it was coming. Forget the National Mall and Mt. Vernon Square. Oliver and Ricky are game for something much more interesting: solving a mystery and a murder. With their focus shifted and a deadline coming, they only have a few days to solve the crime. For Oliver, it's a weeks of firsts: first crush, first time without a schedule, first time playing amateur sleuth, and first time getting wrestled out of his comfort zone. But with a loosey-goosey new partner like Ricky, that might not be such a bad thing at all.

Sam Lumley is the author of the Oliver Popp's Travel Guides to Murder series, and like its protagonist, is both gay and autistic. He also owns a vintage Chevrolet Corvair and once lived in a basement apartment in Washington, D.C.-experiences that also make appearances in the series. Previously an amusement park ride operator, a college radio disc jockey, a museum curator, and a school administrator, he holds a BA in Historic Preservation and an MA in Museum Studies. He now lives with his husband and cat in the San Francisco Bay Area and can be found online at SamLumley.com.