Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

This is Book #7 in my Book a Day January, but I didn't finish it until this morning (day 8).  I'll have a Book #8 review shortly...

I had a $50 gift card to BN, and this was on clearance, so I bought it to read then donate (I later learned it is the first in a series).   I knew the author from the recent AP Gov prompt using his Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) as a "banned book".  Don't. Even. Get. Me. Started.  There is so much wrong with that prompt that...never mind.

ANYWAY.  I found the premise intriguing: a very Clue style mystery where everyone is a suspect and potential next victim.  Yes, all the characters are in some way gay (gay, lesbian, bi, drag), and it is central to the plot.  All of our characters are living in a big mansion, masquerading to the outside world via a giant soap company as straight.  It is the early 1950s, when being gay was a crime.  When the matriarch of the family and business dies under suspicious circumstances, her wife hires a former cop, who was recently outed, to investigate.

This novel was sssllllooooowwww to get moving.  There was a lot of detail that seemed superfluous to the whodunit plot.  I feel like it could've been half the length!

I absolutely loved all the characters, save one, and I did really enjoy trying to figure out the murderer.  That being said, I don't foresee myself running out to buy the next book.

I'll be donating this tomorrow morning and adding it to the new books once I finish uploading Coach Unger's football DVDs to the video server!

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.