In 1st Impressions, by Kate Calloway, rookie private investigator Cassidy James trades her quiet life in Cedar Hills, Oregon, for a high-stakes murder case that hits closer to home than she’d like. After the mutilated body of a wealthy local is pulled from a lake, Cassidy is hired to find the killer—by the prime suspect herself, the victim’s niece, Erica Trinidad. As Cassidy navigates a small town filled with secrets, she also has to contend with a sexist police sergeant and an undeniable, complicated attraction to the woman she’s supposed to be clearing of murder. It’s a classic, atmospheric gumshoe mystery that balances a gritty investigation with the internal friction of a woman starting over after loss.
While often categorized as a “cozy-adjacent” mystery, 1st Impressions holds significant weight in the lesbian literary canon because it was a foundational piece of the 1990s lesbian PI boom. Published by the legendary Naiad Press, it introduced Cassidy James, a character who helped normalize the “lesbian detective” as a hero who was both intellectually capable and openly queer. Unlike mainstream mysteries of the era that treated gay characters as victims or villains, Calloway’s series centered a lesbian woman’s perspective, her grief, and her romantic life as a natural part of the genre. It paved the way for the “lesbian procedural” to become a staple of queer bookshelves.
