a queer historic gumshoe mystery

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(4.5 stars rounded up to a 5)

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen is a queer historic gumshoe mystery. The ebook version is 256 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at a little under ten hours and is narrated by Vikas Adam.

In 1952, Irene Lamontaine, the head of the eponymous soap empire, recently passed away under slightly mysterious circumstances. Her estate offers a unique freedom; all of the residents there can live exactly as who they are as queer individuals. In order to keep their secrets, they keep everyone else out. Though now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in. Irene's widow hires the recently sacked San Francisco police officer Evander "Andy" Mills to uncover the truth behind Irene's death. After all, they'll understand his secret.

I really enjoyed this and basically read it in one sitting. I love mysteries and this one was so full of queer people it made my heart sing.

Since this is a queer historical there are some heavy parts, since many people queer people of the time were looked down on as deviants. So do keep this in mind and check the CWs.

The narrator does an amazing job here, and now I'm going to look up other books that they read.

I'm excited to read more in this series (hopefully!) as the ending sets up a potential continuation. I loved Andy and would really love to read more of his story, helping queer people in San Francisco solve mysteries.

CW: murder, violence, homophobia, homophobic slurs

The publisher provided an audio ARC of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.