Ryerson school of journalism lecturer and The Walrus digital director Angela Misri is set to release the fourth book in her detective series.
The novel, titled The Detective and the Spy, is the fourth installment in Misri’s Portia Adams series. The books began as a series for young adults (YA), but she explained the newest novel was written for an older audience.
“Portia’s not like Nancy Drew, she ages. She aged out of YA, she’s now 25-years-old. This is my first adult novel with Portia Adams. It’s really exciting,” said Misri.
The publishers of Misri’s first three novels, Fierce Ink Press Co-op Ltd, went out of business, so this will be the first book with her new publisher, Cormorant Books.
and digital director for The Walrus (Courtesy Angela Misri)
“When I found the new publisher, they were like ‘we need you to make this an adult novel, we don’t want anymore YA.’ They wanted just one mystery, so that needed to be rewritten,” said Misri. “I basically wrote most of it once and then rewrote the whole thing over last November. Out of 80,000 words, I probably rewrote (50,000). It was crazy.”
The first three books in Misri’s Portia Adams series each held three mysteries within one novel. She explains the biggest difference is that the new novel is only one mystery. Mirsi says there is no sex or violence in the books and while it was written for an adult audience, it is still accessible to kids.
Misri was always a huge fan of detective fiction when she was younger and was inspired mainly by the Sherlock Holmes series.
“When I was a kid I used to read all of the Nancy Drews and Hardy Boys and Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes,” she said. “Sherlock Holmes was one of my favourite detectives. When I started writing about a detective, I placed her in Baker Street because it’s my favourite detective space.”
Her detective series is set in the 1930s and she said being a journalist helps her with the research side of it.
“I’m really used to research,” said Misri. “I also have a lot of beta readers, so I have experts in fields. (When) my first book came out, I got this message from a fan. She was like ‘the lace you described in this scene wasn’t around in 1930.’ I was like ‘how in God’s name did you know that?’ She works at the Smithsonian, in the fashion department. She’s super educated on fashion in the 1930s, so now she’s one of my beta readers.”
The Detective and the Spy will be released on Oct. 24, 2020 and can be purchased on IndieBound.
