Published by Forge on October 18, 2022
Genres: Mystery
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
About Lavender House
Lavender House is Knives Out with a historical, queer twist. In 1952 San Francisco, Andy, a police detective, gets outed during a raid on a queer nightclub, fired, and evicted. At loose ends, he’s offered an investigating job by a wealthy woman. Find out if her wife Irene’s death was an accident or murder then figure out the killer. Andy moves into the family’s home, Lavender House. Then starts trying to unravel who had motive and means to kill the successful owner of a soap company.
My thoughts about Lavender House
The author does an incredible job of capturing the time and place. He shows what it was like to be queer in the 1950s. Parts of the book were heartbreaking like when characters shared their trauma over being estranged from their families, fired, evicted, harassed, and beaten up.
But there was also a beauty to the close relationships and found families and support networks of queer folk.
The relationships at Lavender House are complicated but each character is so well-realized and fleshed-out that I had no trouble remembering how they were related. And so many secrets and motives for them to want Irene dead.
The investigation drew me in as Andy eliminated one possible suspect after another. And I definitely didn’t see the ending coming!
In closing
Thank you, Forge Books for the DRC!
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