I loved Lavender House and its combination of queer history in the US and a classic murder mystery. This book was a bit disappointing as a follow-up, but it still had some great things that are worth mentioning. First, the plot is a bit more complex. It's less "this person is dead, who killed them from this list of suspects?" and more of a complicated situation. For my preferences, I prefer the more classic locked-room style, but others may feel differently. Another strength was the well-researched queer history. There is a lot of information woven into this story and it felt very rich and detailed. I could visualize everything, and it was interesting. The main thing that prevented me from fully enjoying this story is that the characters were less captivating in this installment. I found that I didn't fully connect with most of them, and that impacted my experience. I would read any future books in this series and see if they are more similar to book 1 or 2.