potatoaficionado's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
So glad Kirsten recommended this to me! Basically a big historical queer mystery. Already have the next one requested from the library. The audiobook narrator was really good too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Police brutality, Outing, Murder, Violence, Homophobia, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Minor: War
kal517's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, and Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Animal death
Minor: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail
kayles514's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Hate crime, Death, and Homophobia
meg_leigh's review
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Violence
jessiereads98's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Lavender House is a semi-locked door mystery with an all queer cast. I really loved the idea of a queer take on the classic mystery, but was a bit disappointed in the execution. I would say this story is fine. It’s not the best mystery I’ve ever read, and it’s not the worst. The solution was predictable and underwhelming, but I’m willing to give another in the series a try (as the door for this to become a serial was clearly left open at the end).
The characters here really weren’t fleshed out. We get a peak at each one, and they each seem to be interesting. Unfortunately, we really never get more than an interesting peak before they’re flattened back out and left unexplored. The main character is a recently-outed gay former cop. The story attempts to grapple with his complicity in oppressing his own community a couple times, but ultimately this, like all other character development here, falls off to the wayside. It was difficult to invest in the main character because of the failure of the story to actually confront the main character’s former role as a gay cop, and it was difficult to invest in any other individual character because we didn’t really get to know them either.
The mystery was fairly obvious from the start, so at times it felt like the plot was being drawn out. I think this would’ve been more successful as a fully locked room mystery, rather than bringing in outside suspects for seemingly no reason.
The concept of this book is unfortunately just much better than the book itself.
The characters here really weren’t fleshed out. We get a peak at each one, and they each seem to be interesting. Unfortunately, we really never get more than an interesting peak before they’re flattened back out and left unexplored. The main character is a recently-outed gay former cop. The story attempts to grapple with his complicity in oppressing his own community a couple times, but ultimately this, like all other character development here, falls off to the wayside. It was difficult to invest in the main character because of the failure of the story to actually confront the main character’s former role as a gay cop, and it was difficult to invest in any other individual character because we didn’t really get to know them either.
The mystery was fairly obvious from the start, so at times it felt like the plot was being drawn out. I think this would’ve been more successful as a fully locked room mystery, rather than bringing in outside suspects for seemingly no reason.
The concept of this book is unfortunately just much better than the book itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, Homophobia, and Hate crime
Moderate: Alcohol, Murder, Animal death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcoholism
Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Sexism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Outing
lindsayerin's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, Violence, Death, and Outing
Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
kaitlinwarwick's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Hate crime, and Murder
annielong's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book. Great writing, great setting, great era, and a satisfying conclusion.
This is a locked mansion mystery, not a structure I usually like. Everything else made it good: set in San Francisco's Bay Area, circa 1950s. Gay culture dominates--a refreshing change--in which the protagonist is a police detective walking the line between his work and his secret, private life as a gay man.
Some choice excerpts I collected in my writer's notebook.
"There are palm trees and a few careful-looking white churches that stand like chess pieces at the ends of streets."
". . . a few chairs that looked like they were found washed up on a beach."
"All I'd have left of a family would be the empty sound of a dial tone."
"Her hair is pinned back and her face is bare of any makeup, making her look older than she did last night, and harder too, like wiping the cake off a knife and seeing the edge glint."
This is a locked mansion mystery, not a structure I usually like. Everything else made it good: set in San Francisco's Bay Area, circa 1950s. Gay culture dominates--a refreshing change--in which the protagonist is a police detective walking the line between his work and his secret, private life as a gay man.
Some choice excerpts I collected in my writer's notebook.
"There are palm trees and a few careful-looking white churches that stand like chess pieces at the ends of streets."
". . . a few chairs that looked like they were found washed up on a beach."
"All I'd have left of a family would be the empty sound of a dial tone."
"Her hair is pinned back and her face is bare of any makeup, making her look older than she did last night, and harder too, like wiping the cake off a knife and seeing the edge glint."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
There is a very personal beating.fionamclary's review
3.25
Overall I liked it. I always enjoy queer historical fiction, and the concept was unique and intriguing. However, it didn't always feel like it was set in the 50s in terms of the narration and dialogue. Also, I got the sense that Rosen was afraid of making any of the queer characters too villainous or even too flawed. I wish in particular that the moral conflict of Andy being a gay cop had been further explored and been a more consistently incorporated thread throughout the book. Instead, it got some occasional mentions and slightly awkward, start-and-stop moments of reflection. Maybe I shouldn't expect more from a murder mystery though. I might read the second book, mostly because I want to see .
Spoiler
Andy get a chance at romance with the hot bartender
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Homophobia, Confinement, Outing, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide