Short Description

A mystery series featuring a queer, nameless amateur detective who is rescued from her creditors when a long-time friend hires her to investigate the death of her granddaughter. And what seems to be just another grotty street killing is the surface manifestation of a grandiose set of criminal schemes.

Sales and Market Bullets

• A fun and engaging read featuring a first-person voice that’s uncommon in crime fiction, that of an almost middle-aged LGBTQ woman.


• An innovative mystery featuring a charming, diverse, and offbeat cast.


• Opens with a common trope, the death of a sex worker, but overturns the tropes of the genre with each twist of the plot. Sex workers are well-treated by the narrative, shown simultaneously as flawed and worthy of respect.

Publishing Diverse Voices

• #ownvoices


• queer protagonist, LGBTQ+ (woman-woman sexual relationship), drag queen character

Audience

• Readers of mystery, especially women sleuths


• Fans of the author’s sci-fi works


• Fans of Veronica Mars

Candas Jane Dorsey is the award-winning author of Black Wine, A Paradigm of Earth, Machine Sex and Other Stories, Vanilla and Other Stories, and Ice and Other Stories. She is a writer, editor, former publisher, community advocate, and activist living in Edmonton, Alberta.

“From hanging out on street corners with prostitutes to attending glittering high-society charity balls with billionaire fraudsters, the always game protagonist proves herself to be a first-rate detective. Fans of unconventional mysteries will be richly rewarded.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“The Adventures of Isabel is a winner! The narrator’s voice alone is worth your time — which will be brief, because it’s a page-turner, and then when you’re done you’ll wish it had been longer. Add to that the characters, most of whom I promise you you’ve never met before, the multi-strand plot, and Bunnywit the cat, and you’ll thank me for recommending this book to you. The best part: it’s a series! There’ll be more!” — S.J. Rozan, bestselling author of Paper Son

“Candas Jane Dorsey’s terrific mysteries are what would happen if Raymond Chandler and Frank N. Furter collaborated on cozies and the heroine were a pansexual private detective with heart, smarts, and a T-shirt saying MASCARA IS THE NEW NOIR. There’s female bonding, sex (lots of it), and a cat or two. You’ll scream with laughter, you’ll checkmark phrases. And then, if you’re a nice person and love your friends, you’ll put these books in their hands and insist they read them too.” — Sarah Smith, author of the New York Times Notable Book The Vanished Child

“In The Adventures of Isabel, we see Candas Jane Dorsey obviously having as much fun writing as the reader will have reading. A little Hammett, a little Hiaasen, a little Lot 49, this is the first book in a series that demands to be read with writerly intention. Unlike Robbe-Grillet or Eco, Dorsey doesn’t want to destroy the detective novel with her postmodern take on the form. She seeks instead to shake the reader out of submission and into a clearer vision and examination of the underpinnings of the genre — the real crime and grime and meanness of the streets on which it’s set. The laughs are thrown in for free.” — Janice MacDonald, author of the Randy Craig Mystery series

“When Candas Jane Dorsey takes on a new genre, readers would do well to sit up and take notice. The Adventures of Isabel is smart and razor-sharp, with unforgettable characters and a plot that won’t let you go until the last page. You’re going to love it!”— E.C. Bell, author of the Marie Jenner Mystery Series