Mabel Maney

With their fearless crime-fighting, good manners, and manly fashion sense, the Hardly boys are the pride of Feyport, Illinois. In A Ghost in the Closet, dark-haired, muscular Frank and his lovable kid brother Joe return from a gay trip to Europe to find that their parents—world-famous detective Fennel P. Hardly and his wife, Mrs. Hardly—have been kidnapped! Even worse, so have six poodles from the Lake Merrimen Dog Show. Pals Nancy Clue, Cherry Aimless, R.N., and Police Detective Jackie Jones help the Hardly boys track down the criminals—and in the meantime, pick up useful tips on fingerprinting, evidence retrieval, and the laundering of sporty twill slacks.

Like her beloved camp classics The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse and The Case of the Good-For-Nothing Girlfriend, Mabel Maney's A Ghost in the Closet brilliantly parodies 1950s boys' and girls' adventure series. Pull on a casual rayon shirt and join the queer caper!

From the author of The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse and The Case of the Good-For-Nothing Girlfriend.

“The Funniest Damn titles in gay Fiction” – Instinct

If you travel with the Nurses' Guide to Snakes or can get a raisin pie stain out of a pink poplin frock, you'll fit right in with Nancy Clue and her gay chums on a road trip from sleepy Pleasantville, Idaho, to sparkling River Depths, Illinois, where Hannah, Nancy's beloved housekeeper, stands wrongfully accused of murder! Nurse Cherry Aimless, who fell head–over–penny–loafers for the world–famous girl detective in The Case of the Not–So–Nice Nurse, must help her new sweetheart clear Hannah's name–and her own–and restore her sterling reputation. But does Nancy deserve her devotion? Troubling discoveries force Cherry to do some sleuthing of her own. Is Nancy really the sweet, upstanding girl she seems to be? Like her beloved camp classics The Case of the Not–So–Nice Nurse and A Ghost in the Closet, Mabel Maney's The Case of the Good–For–Nothing Girlfriend brilliantly parodies 1950s boys' and girls' adventure series.

From the author of The Case of the Not–So–Nice Nurse and A Ghost in the Closet.

Praise for Mabel Maney
“For those adults who are just big and twisted kids underneath” San Francisco Weekly
“Tongue–in–cheek homoerotic hilarity that's fun, nostalgic, and completely contemporary” Los Angeles Reader
“Maney flawlessly lampoons the torpid style of both children's books and lesbian mysteries where similarly nothing happens without at least three changes of clothing and a good, hot meal” SF Weekly
“America's two greatest girl detectives as lovers? Could anything in the history of pop culture be more irreverent?” Newsday
“Maney has penned a mystery with tongue–in–cheek homoerotic hilarity that's simultaneously fun, nostalgic and completely contemporary” Los Angeles Reader

“The Funniest Damn titles in gay Fiction” – Instinct

Nurse Cherry Aimless's first vacation from her hectic career in a big–city hospital takes her to visit her spinster Aunt Gertrude in thrilling San Francisco. Wistfully trading her starched white cap and dress for a bright yellow poplin frock with a flared skirt, young Cherry takes to the highway, never imagining the gay adventures that await her. Imagine her surprise to learn that Aunt Gertrude has been kidnapped! Armed only with the contents of her purse, and with the help of new chums Midge, Velma, and a dashing female police officer named Jackie, the plucky but innocent Cherry must save her aunt, find a gaggle of missing nuns, and stop an illegal land grab– all under the warm gaze of her hero, girl detective Nancy Clue. And when the queer caper has ended, will there be a chance for Nancy and Cherry?

This sparkling parody of 1950s girl adventure stories will make you laugh out loud and long for a lemon Jell–O mold. Golly, it's a good time!

From the author of The Case of the Good–For–Nothing Girlfriend and A Ghost in the Closet.

Praise for Mabel Maney
“For those adults who are just big and twisted kids underneath” San Francisco Weekly
“Tongue–in–cheek homoerotic hilarity that's fun, nostalgic, and completely contemporary” Los Angeles Reader
“Maney flawlessly lampoons the torpid style of both children's books and lesbian mysteries where similarly nothing happens without at least three changes of clothing and a good, hot meal” SF Weekly
“America's two greatest girl detectives as lovers? Could anything in the history of pop culture be more irreverent?” Newsday
“Maney has penned a mystery with tongue–in–cheek homoerotic hilarity that's simultaneously fun, nostalgic and completely contemporary” Los Angeles Reader