Perspective is everything. To many readers, this may very well be a mystery. Reading as a disaster bisexual, however, my take was very different. The mystery is no mystery to me as a queer person, and I’m willing to bet a silk pajama that every single queer person who reads the book can determine who the killer is almost immediately. Why? How? If you know, you just know.
(I could be wrong, obviously. Queer folks aren’t a monolith. But I’ll still take the bet every time.)
“Garden of Surprises” by It’s No Game is licensed under CC BY 2.0 
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This isn’t the beginning of a roast, though. I liked this novel very much for what it is, and to me it’s a story about a self-loathing gay man working through his internalized homophobia. Rosen’s choice to set the novel in the 1950s and use noir tropes makes this a really effective way to tell that story – not that it isn’t a problem now, but I think it’s good and necessary–especially for new adults–to see how much worse it was to be gay in the middle of the 20th century. I know it’s hard to believe that anything could be worse than it is right now, but, just trust me–and Rosen–on this one.
After getting busted in a raid at a gay bar, detective Evander “Andy” Mills gets thrown off the police force and spends his days drunk and considering ending it all. In this midst of his doldrums he’s tracked down by a mysterious woman who invites him to Lavender House, a place where queer folks can live openly. But it’s not a social rescue – Andy is invited to Lavender House to solve the murder of its mistress, soap magnate Irene Lamontaine.
Being around so many gay people who are comfortable in their own skin forces Andy to examine his self-loathing. As he searches for clues to Irene’s murder, he starts to wonder if there couldn’t be a different way to live after all. In time, he might even find love – this book is a series starter, so I’m hoping the romance teased near the end can blossom into something good. The big reveal is pretty spectacular, not because of the identity of the murderer, but because of what said murderer was about to do, which would’ve been pretty chilling had they gotten away with it. It’s one of the few times I haven’t minded the “villain monologue” trope, and I hope Rosen has more writerly tricks like that in store.
I didn’t plan it this way, but this is a good read for Pride month. We definitely need more books that aren’t about queer angst, but as cultural forces try to push gay folks back into the closet, we also definitely need books about queer people learning to love themselves. Writing this narrative into a murder mystery is a fresh take on that particular story, and I was here for it. Highly recommended for the girls, gays, and theys, as well as anyone who loves noir.
