Lavender House

First off, awesome cover with the color and rabbits, innocent looking at first, until you spot the dead one. Makes for a very intriguing book. The story was interesting too. Not quite up to the Knives Out caliber that it touts from the blurb, but still a good read. Not only do you get a good look into how hard it was to be different back then, but you get to see how resilient people can be and how havens were created for them to be themselves. And then there is murder most foul. Always a good choice to spice up a story. Pearl finds Andy, a recently fired detective to see if he can solve the mystery of Irene Lamontaine's death. Secrets abound with the rest of the family and much is revealed by the end of the story that makes this a good book to read. I also liked reading about the bits of soap making and what Irene did to keep the company running on new scents. So a fun book and I bet the next book will be good, with Andy on the case!

It is 1950s San Francisco and detective Evander "Andy" Mills has just been thrown off the police force after being caught in a compromising position in a raid on a gay nightclub. While getting drunk and contemplating suicide, he is approached by a mysterious older woman called Pearl with a proposition for him to investigate the suspicious accidental death of her wife Irene, several weeks ago. Irene was the owner of one of the country's biggest soap companies. Pearl wonders if Irene's death from a fall could have been murder. Andy accepts the job and to investigate, moves into Lavender House, a luxurious Marin County estate inhabited by a found family of queer people: Pearl, Irene's son, his lesbian wife who he married for appearances and her partner; even the staff are queer. They live freely as themselves away from the danger of the 1950s' homophobic society. Lavender House is essentially a well-written "whodunnit" with social commentary about how scary it was to be queer in the 50s. The book described the discrimination, hate and pain faced by queer people, including violent incidents of gay bashing. The issues explored in this book are unfortunately relevant given the recent assaults on LGBTQ+ rights. Lavender house is a tightly plotted atmospheric mystery with complex characters involved in complicated relationships. I really liked Andy and hope to see him in future books.