Reminiscent of Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx's Accordion Crimes, this impressive literary debut is a historic crime roman a clef at its absolute finest. Told with a third-person sweeping narrative that is both edgy and wise, The Brothers from Budapest by composer and award-winning writer Franceska Molnar allows a rare truth to emerge about fortune, the vices of family, and the true grit of a man's soul when he is forced to fold or flee. After immigrating to America, two tough Hungarian-born brothers decide to commit the perfect crime. After initial success as robbers, they become counterfeiters and pass U. S. currency at will on the mean streets of Chicago. When the law eventually catches up with them, one brother is sent to jail while the other outsmarts the bondsmen and escapes. To the final pages, the author takes readers on an awe-inspiring international manhunt. While the old adage that crime never pays might not ring completely true, it is certain that all crime has its cost.