I received an advance copy from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes; this in no way influences my review.
I’ve loved Lev AC Rosen’s books for a while now, and seeing he had a new contemporary mystery I knew I needed to get my hands on it. And this does not disappoint! It’s such a delightful, chaotic mess of a book, and I love the main characters so much.
Brandon is a gay Jewish man living in New York and working for a hotel on overnights. One evening this hot guy checks in and flirts with Brandon. Even though it’s against policy, when Jon calls down asking for a towel, Brandon is ready for it to take a porno turn – which it does! But the next day, Jon has checked out early, leaving behind his bag and a cell phone. Brandon snags the cell phone, thinking he can make it into a Cinderella moment by finding Jon and returning the phone. He ropes his best friends in, but instead of returning the phone, Brandon witnesses a murder!
There is so much chaos going on with each of the four friends. Ollie is a trans man still reeling from the death of his father while being a dog walker and house sitter for rich people. He also loves true crime podcasts, so when he witnesses the murder with Brandon, he thinks this is a perfect opportunity to start his own podcast – but first they have the solve the mystery. Nicole is a Black lesbian lawyer who used to be big into activism, but the job and demands have ground her down where she doesn’t even think she can go out with the cute barista because the partners may talk, but maybe she can become a high profile crime lawyer like Ellen. Ian is nonbinary drag queen slash bookstore employee who is always so angry, and has spent the last year hate-stalking their ex who cheated on them and periodically keying his car. The four of them try to be there for each other, but also have so much of their own mess going on, getting roped into possible spy shenanigans forced them closer than they’ve been in a while.
I had so much fun with this, and Rosen’s writing is so engaging. My biggest complaint was how a lot of stuff felt repeated between POV shifts, especially with the way the text conversations were used to situate the timeline. I understand the intent and execution, but across four perspectives, it would start feeling repetitive reading the same chat over and over again. That aside, this was an absolute delight and I especially loved that it was so bonkers and chaotic. I really hope there’s going to be more cuz I already love Brandon, Ian, Nicole, and Ollie so much!