Leanne Olson

by Lev AC Rosen

Released October 18, 2022 from Macmillan Tor-Forge

Lavender House was a mixed read for me. I enjoyed the protagonist and the concept, but found it a bit difficult to get into at times.

I loved the concept and backstory in this one. It’s set in 1950s San Francisco, and Andy is a policeman who loses his job because he’s discovered at a gay bar during a raid. He’s hired by a wealthy woman who wants him to solve the murder of her wife, at their home, Lavender House. Lavender House seems like an oasis in an awful world: a mansion where a large found family of queer folks can live true to themselves. Of course, since this is a murder mystery, there are dark secrets even here.

Lavender House is billed as a queer Knives Out, which also set me up with strange expectations going in — Knives Out was fast-paced and funny, but Lavender House is much slower and has a serious tone. Both types of mysteries are enjoyable, but very different. The mystery in Lavender House has a cozy mystery feel: the victim is an older woman who ran a soap empire, and there isn’t much of a sense of danger to the other residents in the house. The danger comes from the outside world and homophobia.

Andy is a wonderful character, and the scenes where he deals with homophobia and abuse from the police are heartbreaking. I loved seeing his growth as a character in accepting himself and learning to be part of the larger queer community. The historical setting outside of the mansion felt immersive and completely hooked me. However, the mystery and characters inside Lavender House interested me a bit less. With the exception of Cliff, most of them didn’t have strong personalities to me, and I kept mixing up several of the women. I was much more invested in Andy’s inner life than the mystery itself, when I feel like I was supposed to care about both elements of the story.

However, even though I didn’t fully love this book, I am interested enough in Andy and in the concept to read the next book in the series — the book ends with a great setup for future novels.

🌟🌟🌟1/2

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Tor-Forge for my review copy of this book. I wrote this review a month after release even though I had the ARC, due to tech issues with my e-reader.