Good King Sauerkraut — Barbara Paul

A clumsy robotics researcher scrambles to cover up a double homicide

Despite his name, King Sarcowicz is hardly regal. A rumpled scientist, he spends every waking minute in his lab, tinkering with the robots he thinks will make human soldiers obsolete. It seems impossible that this gentle soul could create a killing machine, and in fact, he never will. Long before his robot is operational, King himself will become a killer.

Working late in his lab, King commits a pair of clumsy blunders that lead to the deaths of two of his fellow scientists. In shock, he disappears into the streets of New York. When he's finally confronted by NYPD detective Marian Larch, he lies to save his own skin. To discover what caused the tragedy in King's lab, Larch will have to do more than outsmart this brilliant scientist -- she'll have to think like him too.

Good King Sauerkraut is the 3rd book in the Marian Larch Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.