Tuesday, December 06, 2022

2022 book 214

 Lev AC Rosen's Lavender House

So this is a super queer mystery set in 1950s San Francisco; the protagonist was a detective for the SFPD until he was caught in a police raid in a gay club. He’s actively contemplating suicide when a rich woman hires him to figure out who killed her wife (no, this is not set in a world where gay marriage was legal in the 1950s, but they were basically wives, ok), and invites him into her home full of secretly queer people. The mystery itself was so-so, but I really enjoyed the characters a lot, and the end seems like a setup for a series that I would definitely read. Warning for characters encountering a lot of homophobia, including homophobic violence. This is not a super dark mystery, but it’s not wholly cozy and fun either (though there are a lot of nice and funny moments). A-.

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