Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen Published by Tor Publishing Group on October 18, 2022
Genres: Fiction / LGBTQ+ / General, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Historical, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Private Investigators
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781250834232A delicious story from a new voice in suspense, Lev AC Rosen's Lavender House is Knives Out with a queer historical twist.
Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret—but it's not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they've needed to keep others out. And now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in.
Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept—his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.
Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He's seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn't extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy—and Irene’s death is only the beginning.
When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business.
I absolutely love queer historical fiction, as it’s another way to show/prove that queer people aren’t anything new. LGBTQ+ people have been around since the beginning of time and will continue to be here!
The whole mystery was fun but not too surprising. I’m still trying to figure out why the summary references Knives Out because it’s definitely not that level of mystery. While a fascinating mystery and fun to see how Andy figures it out, it wasn’t overly complicated or mysterious.
The more interesting aspect of the novel, is the found family that is found at Lavender House. I loved every person in different ways, and it was great to such flawed queer people. They were all family and loved each other, but they still had their issues with their family members and are just trying to figure out life.
This was a bit difficult of a book due to the homophobia present in the book. Andy takes on the case of finding out Irene’s murder due to the fact that he’s been fired from the police force after them finding out he’s gay. There are many instances of the f** slur being used, but the worse part is when Andy runs into his old colleagues. Right after, they take Andy to an alley and beat him black, blue, and bloody. It’s difficult to read that specific scene. But thankfully, the beauty of this book, as I’ve already stated, is how this family comes together for those they love. Even though Andy’s not an official part of the family, he’s still one of their own, so they take care of them.
This sounds like such an interesting read! I love this take on historical fiction, I’ll have to check it out