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A review by allyexa
Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
slow-paced
2.0
Man, I was so excited for this book, described as a sort of queer “Knives Out.”
But it was such a nothingburger.
It was one of the slowest murder mysteries I’ve ever read, and all that inching along did not increase the tension. The narrator was repetitive, the writing overly descriptive (I really did not need to know what everyone was wearing in every scene), and the plot had zero twists. The story was like “This happened. And then this happened. And then this next thing happened.” I wanted a plot that looped around, tying things together with “aha!” realizations. A lot of the book was the detective going through the list of suspects, interviewing them in different settings.
Also the voice of the novel didn’t seem very 1950s to me. But I had just read Denise Mina’s “The second Murderer” and she nailed that 1940s LA noir, so this book paled in comparison. The palest lavender.
For those wanting more of a slow and scene-setting mystery, this would be more your style. It’s an interesting overall idea.
9/9/23
But it was such a nothingburger.
It was one of the slowest murder mysteries I’ve ever read, and all that inching along did not increase the tension. The narrator was repetitive, the writing overly descriptive (I really did not need to know what everyone was wearing in every scene), and the plot had zero twists. The story was like “This happened. And then this happened. And then this next thing happened.” I wanted a plot that looped around, tying things together with “aha!” realizations. A lot of the book was the detective going through the list of suspects, interviewing them in different settings.
Also the voice of the novel didn’t seem very 1950s to me. But I had just read Denise Mina’s “The second Murderer” and she nailed that 1940s LA noir, so this book paled in comparison. The palest lavender.
For those wanting more of a slow and scene-setting mystery, this would be more your style. It’s an interesting overall idea.
9/9/23