A review by kappafrog
Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this. I read it very quickly because I wanted to find out the answer to the mystery. However, the main character had me in two minds. There were heart-wrenching aspects to his story, and there were times when it made me really smile seeing how much he was starting to accept himself. However, I did not find it enjoyable to read a character arc that consisted of "cop realises how bad the stuff he lets other cops get away with was." I'm glad he realised and learned and found a way to move forward in life, but I was with Judy on this one. It was hard to sympathzie with him, especially after
he remembered letting cops get away with raping lesbians. Jesus, that was bad, and just immediately brushed past.


I'm a little mixed on how the end played out as well. It seemed like Alice was way too obvious a candidate from the start, so I had fun thinking about which of the others it was going to be. But then when it turned out to be Alice and she was just a serial murderer, well, it was a little meh for me. The boldness of a story where almost all the characters are queer so one of them gets to be the villain without being the token queer villain got diluted by it being the only straight suspect who did it after all. A fair subversion, given the long history of queer and queer-coded villains, but less thought-provoking and innovative than it seemed at first. Also, we really just glossed over how Margo covered for her mother's murder for YEARS, and how Pearl killed a private investigator at the end of the book!


I really loved the way the setting of the house was described, with all the flowers and trees and the sense of seclusion. My favourite character was definitely Pat. I would have been happy to see more of his life! I liked the doctor-turned-bartender a lot too. Usually I gravitate towards queer women in books, especially historical ones, but it was harder to connect with the women in this book. I think it was just obvious that the author was writing what he knew with the queer men so their feelings and personalities shone through a lot more strongly than those of the women.
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