Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audio of Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen.
I absolutely love this series, and Rough Pages might be the best one yet. Evander is a great main character, but the supporting cast is just as important to the story. The plot of a bookstore with a mail book service for gay books, possibility of feds looking into it, then the mob, and maybe just scared members of the community - was smart, entertaining, and a good mystery.
Just as the characters in this book know, books are important and representation matters. A love letter to diverse reads.

3.5 stars

The narrator on this series is great, and I enjoyed the narration again. This time there was a character whose voice I couldn't stand, I do think it matched the character but I still found it grating. I think this was an instance where I just picked up this book at the wrong time. I really like the returning characters, but I was so stressed reading this one! The series is definitely not cozy, it's often stressful or depressing, but this time I found it overwhelmingly so. I think there was just less hopefulness in this book? There were so many things going wrong or threatening to go wrong in so many aspects of the case and the detective's life and it just ramped up my anxiety. Also, the topic of book censorship is so relevant to today that it stressed me out even more. I think with things in the world as they are I just wasn't ready for this level of stress in my fictional forays. I do think this series is great and if you're open to a more nail biting read it's definitely worth picking this one up. I just wished for a little more comfort for the characters I care about.

Private Detective Andy Mills continues his work as a detective for the gay community in 1950s San Francisco when a friend reports someone missing. Howard Salzberger is a bookseller who secretly runs a book club mailing queer books out to subscribers. With Howard missing and the list gone, Andy needs to figure out who wanted to stop Howard's work before the mailing list gets into the wrong hands. Andy's investigation pulls him closer to the mob, his former police department, and a reporter who is all too interested in Andy.

Lev A.C. Rosen has written another great queer historical mystery in Rough Pages. With more books in this series Rosen is slowly building out the world of his San Francisco. The characters are well-rounded and make the mystery a lot more fun to watch Andy solve. The book also gives a lot of insight into the power of gay books and the underground community that spread them to allow people to see themselves reflected in fiction. It balances the central mystery well with a broader perspective of the historical state of LGBTQ people in the 1950s. Rough Pages has a lot of characters that feel right out of a noir, especially Rose Rainmeyer as the over-eager reporter. I look forward to Andy Mills next appearance and mystery he has to solve. The audiobook was produced excellently and the narrator continues to do an excellent job bringing Rosen's character's to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forge Books for a copy of Rough Pages in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing addition to this series. I loved getting to check back in with old characters as well as meet new ones. And the mystery had me guessing till the end

(4.25/5 stars)

Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen is a another great entry into the Evander Mills queer historical mystery series.

Set in 1950s San Francisco--when LGBTQ+ individuals had to hide their true natures--private detective Andy Mills attempts to right whatever wrongs he is able to. In this installment, Andy looks into the disappearance and potential murder of a man who co-ran a bookstore with a monthly queer book-by-mail subscription.

This is honestly my favorite queer historical mystery series that is presently being written. I really enjoy Rosen's prose and the audiobook narrator Vikas Adam does a very good job. I'm so excited for what's to come, thanks to something that happens at the very end of this book. But I'm not going into any details here because spoilers!

I really like this series, and Rough Pages feels very timely in light of all the book banning taking place.

Set in 1950's San Francisco, these follow a gay ex-cop turned Private Investigator serving the queer community. This was a time when they really had to hide and it was scary for anyone trying to just live their life. In Rough Pages, Andy Mills takes on a case involving a missing bookstore owner who ran a covert gay books by mail program. Because if that mailing list has been found by the feds it would put a lot of people in danger.

As a mystery, I think this is decent. But what I really like is the ongoing story following Andy and his found family, and unpacking elements of being a queer person in this time and place. If you like the series, I do recommend it! The audio narration is great with those noir vibes, similar to past books. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I love this series and Rough Pages was no exception. Vikas Adam narrates a nail biter I couldn't wait to keep listening to. Andy Mills is the underdog you can't help rooting for, and I didn't see the ending coming. I will continue to read this series (and listen to the audio if possible!) for as long as it's released.

Thanks NetGalley! Detective Andy and his friends at the Lavender bring their passion and chaos to a story that at times jumps off the page with witty banter and a complicated mystery. These are memorable characters!

The case that Andy has to solve in Rough Pages begins by circling back to the events of the first book in the series, Lavender House. In that first book, Andy Mills found a purpose, became part of a found family, and solved a murder, all while keeping the police – of which he used to be a part – from learning the truth about the residents of Lavender House.

That every single member of the family, and the staff, were queer. He managed to keep their secrets in spite of his own already being common knowledge – at least among his former ‘brothers in blue’ in the San Francisco Police Department.

So Rough Pages begins by taking Andy back to Lavender House, because they need his detective skills again – even if they don’t know it yet.

The Lamontaine family at Lavender House has adopted a baby. Or nearly so. The paperwork and the inspections and the questions have not quite run their course. It would still be much too easy for social services to take the baby back. If the family’s secret comes out – they certainly will.

At first, the case doesn’t seem like much. A friend of the family, the owner of a queer bookstore, is missing. Nearly all of the family have bought books from the shop. The butler/majordomo, Pat, volunteers there on his days off.

But it’s not just the owner that’s missing. Because he kept a list of all the subscribers to his book service, a kind of book club for queer books, mailed to subscribers all over the state of California – and even beyond. It’s not just that he’s missing – his list is missing too. A list that includes every single member of the Lamontaine family old enough to read.

Mailing ‘dirty’ books through the mail was illegal and ALL books with a hint of queer contents were considered ‘dirty’ automatically. If that list is in the wrong hands, they’re all in trouble and they’ll lose the baby.

So there’s the obvious possibility that Howard and his business partner DeeDee, who is also missing, might have been arrested by the feds, and that the feds have the list.

But it could be worse, because Howard may have gotten himself in trouble with the mob, either because his boyfriend is a mobster’s nephew or because he planned to publish the memoirs of a gay mobster – anonymously, of course. Either of those circumstances is more than enough to land him in big trouble with some very shady characters.

The feds will just ruin everyone’s lives and send as many as possible to jail. But the mob? Blackmail is the most likely outcome. Or, they might send somebody to ‘feed the fishes’. Unless they already have.

Escape Rating A+: I am absolutely hooked on this series, and Rough Pages was a totally worthy successor to the first two books, Lavender House and The Bell in the Fog. And it’s even better and more utterly absorbing in Vikas Adam’s narration, which I’ve had the pleasure of listening to for all three books so far. And OMG but I hope there are more.

I fell into this book so deeply that I had to let it process for a couple of days before I could write anything coherent. With a book this good it takes a while for the ‘SQUEE!” to settle down. I’m not exactly certain that it has even now, but I’ll certainly try.

This is a book that can be read – or listened to – from multiple perspectives with multiple hooks, all of which ‘hook’ the reader rather firmly.

Mystery readers, particularly readers who love noir detective fiction will feel right at home in the foggy streets of Andy’s San Francisco. Andy Mills is exactly the type of hardboiled detective featured in the work of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain – or he would be if Andy wasn’t queer.

At the same time, this series is historical fiction, set in the early 1950s, among San Francisco’s gay community. Also, it’s set at the point in U.S. postwar history where everyone was trying to repair and/or return to a ‘normalcy’ fractured by war. The tolerance of the war period was over and McCarthyism was on the rise, searching for liberals, queers and communists in every closet, under every bed, and any place where anyone who stood up or stood out might ask questions, persecuting and prosecuting them unmercifully in both the courts and the press, driving them out of jobs, homes and even the whole country.

The fear that Andy, his friends, his found family, and the community he serves, live under every day is as palpable as Andy’s personal fear that his former ‘buddies’ in the SFPD will find him and beat him again and again – and that they might not stop when he’s merely ‘near‘ death the next time.

And in this particular case, Andy’s job and his life intersect with an issue that, while it never goes away, has reared its ugly head as high in our present day as it did during the 1950s setting of the story. And that’s censorship and the repression of thought and speech that is always its ultimate goal.

The combination of themes gives this story a resonance from past to present while also telling a terrific story, putting the reader squarely at Andy’s side during a compelling investigation, and feeling right along with him as he does his best to protect the people he has come to hold dear – in a life that he never expected to have.

Some readers will be here for the mystery, some for the history, some for the portrait of gay life in a time and place where everything had to be hidden – and the cost of that attempt at hiding one’s truest self on every action and reaction. And anyone who believes in the power of words and thoughts and books and reading to change lives and form communities – and just how much some parts of society will attempt to suppress those same words and thoughts and even lives, will find Rough Pages to be a story that sticks long after the final page is turned.

This was an interesting book, I enjoyed the story and the characters. The pacing was good. I don't think this book was for me, it was a little more Sam Spade then I was expecting, but it was still good and a good read. I'd read more from the series, I just don't know I'm who it was written for. It also had a lot of important historical perspective you don't often see in a book like this. I kept getting confused on era, but that's on me, not the book. :)

I'd recommend this to anyone who wants Raymond Chandler, but updated for the modern era (so a lot less misogyny and from LGBTQ+ perspectives.)

CW: homophobia, racism

*slight spoilers for earlier books in the series*

I loved this book! My favourite in the series thus far.

In this installment we have Andy tracking down a missing bookseller, so may have gotten into trouble for selling and sending obscene materials through the mail. I don't know if this is super accurate with the post office (I assume it is?), but now, you can send whatever you want in the mail, as long as it's in an envelope; if the post office doesn't know what it is, it's none of their business.

I really loved how Andy continued to evolve as an out (or at least not actively hiding), queer man, as well as how his relationship with Gene is developing. I really appreciated Gene putting Andy in his place about his hero complex; not everyone needs to be saved by Andy Mills, despite him thinking they do.

I was also so happy to have the family from Lavender House back in this book. They felt like such an important catalyst to Andy's introduction to the queer community (in book one) and I had hoped that they would be in book two more than they were. It was great to catch up with them again and see how Andy can fit into their little family.

But, but, what I really loved about this book, is that it's a book about books. There are so many times that they are discussing the importance of books, especially queer books, and what they were saying is still SO relevant today (70+ years later). How it's important to see yourself in books, how you can learn about yourself from reading books, how books make you more empathetic towards others whose background you don't share, etc. This quote in particular is just so, SO good:

Pat laughs. “No, no, Andy. Books are dangerous.” I turn to him, surprised. “What?” “It’s just about who they’re dangerous to she was wrong about. She meant her, Howard maybe. If people are afraid of you reading a thing—a reporter, the mob, the government—that means they’re afraid of reading it too. Afraid of knowing what’s in the book, whether it be some personal secret, or just some story of love that could make someone feel less alone. Books are just as dangerous to the people who don’t want us to read them as they are to us. Because they make us less alone. They make us see ourselves. They make us realize what we deserve. And sometimes they make people who aren’t like us realize it, too. That’s why they’re dangerous. And that’s why we all have to live dangerously—so we keep reading them.”

I do have to say that the homophobia was especially difficult to read in this, even though I'm sure it's historically accurate. It's also a big part of the plot, so it kind of has to be there, but it was still super uncomfortable to read. Even though I really disliked reading it, I did really appreciate how Rosen wrote it, which probably sounds weird! He didn't write any slurs (Andy called himself a fag, once) and one side character referred to an unnamed queer person as a fairy, but I think that if the language had been historically accurate, it would have likely been a lot worse. The same goes for the racism in the book; yes, folks in the early 50s were super racist, but no slurs were used.

I absolutely devoured this book, I actually read it almost in one sitting, which I haven't done for quite some time. Even though this one isn't out until October, I'm already hoping for a fourth book!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced listener’s copy. I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

The third installment of the Evander Mills series was another wonderful addition to this noir mystery collection. The feeling of all the series parts before this and the newest installment is this wonderful chemistry between classic noir detective stories and queer history. Lev A.C. Rosen does it again with a story of a missing bookstore owner with a connection to the original Lavender House family through a queer book subscription service that could put the family in danger just as they approach the finish line to adopt their newest member.

These books always feel like an experience where i’m along for the ride with our trusty, gruff, and a bit awkward Detective Mills but the mystery is also so full of suspects and clues that you can really feel like you’re figuring things out with Evander and not like you’re a step ahead or behind him. I also love all the world building around Evander’s life at the ruby, his status with Gene (his boyfriend) and the family he’s slowly building around himself in this corner of the queer community in San Francisco.

Once again, Vikas Adams does a great job as the voice of Evander and the book’s narrator. He juggles the gritty tones well with Evander’s genre defying vulnerability and discomfort very well, the series wouldn’t be the same without him. This entire series is just so fun and the quality stays consistent and enjoyable; a perfect series to pick up for fall!

"Dirty books... that's illegal?"
"Books aren't above the law."

"With a book I might have felt seen...safe."

It is because of writers like the immensely clever Lev AC Rosen that I love books, that I learn from fiction, and I believe he's one of the most important authors of our time.

Rough Pages, the 3rd installment of his Evander Mills historical mystery series, is just brilliant. The title is perfect for the story. The noir atmosphere is filled with intrigue, unease and nostalgia.

Former detective, now private investigator, Evander "Andy" Mills is back helping his queer friends at the Lavender House estate. Pat, the butler, needs his help finding bookstore owners Howard and Dorothea. He's worried they've been arrested for selling books, in their store and through the mail, about and for queer people. It's the 1950s and homosexuality is illegal in persons, literature and art. If their mailing list, their clientele, is made public, the readers are endanger of arrest and their lives ruined forever.

With his usual writing flair, the author creates an unsettling atmosphere as Andy avoids a reporter after the truth. He's also trying to protect his friends and himself from the government and the mob; who may be involved in the disappearance case.

Voice actor @Vikas Adam is Andy. From the first self depreciating line in Book 1, Lavender House, and the swaggering sexiness in Book 2, The Bell in The Fog, to his emotional vulnerability in Rough Pages, this actor gives Andy his depth, his likability and his soul.

The mystery of the missing persons is twisty. The resolution is surprising but it's Andy's world, his trials and tribulations, that makes this a smooth story.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio via #NetGalley for a fair & honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC in audiobook format.

Lev AC Rosen’s “Rough Pages,” the third installment in the Evander Mills series, is a captivating blend of historical mystery and noir, brought to life by the exceptional narration of Vikas Adam. This audiobook is a thoroughly immersive experience. The richly detailed setting of post-war San Francisco adds a layer of authenticity and intrigue, making the narrative even more compelling.

Interactions with the diverse cast of characters, each with their own secrets and motives, add depth and tension to the story. Rosen’s skillful character development ensures that even the secondary characters are memorable and well-rounded.

Vikas Adam’s narration is stellar.  Adam’s pacing and delivery are impeccable, maintaining the suspense and keeping listeners hooked from start to finish.

"Rough Pages” explores themes of truth, identity, and the complexities of human relationships. The narrative is well-paced, with twists and turns that keep the listener guessing. Rosen’s ability to weave historical elements with a gripping mystery makes this audiobook a standout in the genre.

Rosen’s nuanced portrayal of these themes, combined with Adam’s masterful narration, makes “Rough Pages” a thought-provoking and memorable listen. The novel’s blend of historical context and contemporary relevance ensures it resonates with a wide audience.

“Rough Pages” is a masterfully crafted audiobook that showcases Lev AC Rosen’s talent for storytelling and Vikas Adam’s exceptional narration skills. For fans of historical mysteries and noir, this audiobook is a must-listen.

I highly recommend “Rough Pages” for its engaging plot, well-developed characters, and the immersive listening experience it provides.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing a copy of the audiobook to review!

This was a great addition to a series I love dearly. A great mystery with a lot of heart, Rough Pages is a phenomenal detective noir story.

While I think this can be read as a standalone, there’s no reason not to read the rest of the series. This might have been my favorite one yet, though.

I really hope we get more of this great cast of characters some day!

**4.5-stars**

I love this series with my whole heart. Andy Mills is a phenomenal main character and I adore the classic film noir vibes just rolling off these pages. The mystery, relationships and setting are all equally fantastic and compelling. I need more!

If you're unaware, Rough Pages is the 3rd-installment to Lev A.C. Rosen's Evander Mills series. These are Historical Mysteries set in early-1950s San Francisco and follow a diverse cast of characters.

This story kicks off with Andy being drawn back to Lavender House for a missing person case involving Pat, the butler. Pat has been volunteering his time working at a book store specializing in a subscription service for Queer books. The proprietor of that bookstore, Henry, has mysteriously gone missing, along with his address book containing the list of all their subscribers. Trust that in the early-1950s, this is a very valuable list. If it falls into the wrong hands, a lot of people would be in danger.

Andy discovers the book shop also had begun publishing Queer books, and it appears someone didn't want them to release their latest project.
Evidence leads Andy to believe there's a mafia connection and that they may have purposely held onto the subscriber list for future blackmail purposes. It's a race against time as Andy tries to put the pieces of this dangerous puzzle together before his whole world comes crashing down around him.

The mystery, again, was great and I have become so incredibly attached to this cast of characters. It's not just Andy, but also the found family he has surrounded himself with since his termination from the police department. I loved how at the start of this, he returned to Lavender House, which he didn't do in the second book. So, that was fun to revisit that special place and I like how Rosen incorporated those characters again.

The film noir, classic detective fiction, vibes are so strong in this series. I urge anyone who has a soft spot for those classics to pick this series up. Rosen has nailed that style and when I am reading one of these mysteries, I can see it all playing out in my head like my movie. I love it.

Andy went through so much in this one. He has a budding relationship and he did have to confront a bit of his past again, this time in the form of his former employer. There were high stakes, tense moments, as well as discussions about books and sharing of stories. I appreciated how a lot of the plot revolved around this idea of subversive books. That was an interesting avenue of exploration.

This series doesn't get enough hype, IMO, so just know, it comes with my highest recommendation. I haven't come across a lot of Queer Historical Mysteries, but I have a feeling, even if I had, this series would still be the tops. In addition to the overall series recommendation, I also highly recommend the audiobooks, if that's an option for you. They're all narrated by Vikas Adam, whose narration style lends itself so well to the film noir feel of these stories. Vikas is Andy to me.

Thank you to the publisher, Forge Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me copies to read and review. I am not sure what the future holds for this series, but I certainly hope we get a lot more cases to solve with Andy and friends!!

What a fantastic addition to this series! I've grown used to the rhythm of Lev A.C. Rosen's writing in these books and enjoy Vikas Adam's narration in the audiobook immensely.

As with the first two books, I'd recommend this series for both teens and adults. There is implied relations but no explicit sex and while there are discussions of murder and threats of violence as you would find in most noir, it is not excessive in any way.

While the first book focused on how LGBTQ+ folks survived in the 1950s through secrets and community and the second book showed more of how the world around them actively put pressure of them (the unjust legal system, cops extorting money from queer businesses, and blackmail), this third book shows how the queer community found ways to thrive: most especially through the act of reading.

Diving into how people found themselves for the first time through the books they read and showing how a queer bookstore would operate in secret in the 1950s, you come to deeply appreciate the current efforts to prevent conservatives from destroying libraries and banning queer books. There are some really touching moments about people and their relationship to stories and I loved that.

Also, just an aside, but Andy is a big, sweet (and a bit clumsy) lug who does his best for the people he cares about. At this point, it's hard not to adore him and feel engaged in every step he takes through the mystery (even if it isn't too complicated a mystery for the reader). I loved his banter with his friends and how he did his best for Gene even when mistakes are made. I am so invested in the people at the Ruby as well as his old friends at the Lavender House.

One genuine point of tension throughout the book was Rose the Reporter. She brings with her so much danger -- to Andy's secrets and to all of the people he wishes to protect -- that I was afraid of her every time she appeared. I loved the tension that built in me as I read because so much was at stake, but it stressed me whenever she was dogging Andy's footsteps!

Hm. I'm not really sure how I feel about this one. I listened to the audiobook of Lavender House last year, but I haven't read Bell in the Fog. Andy is hired by a member of the household in the first book, and he is apparently dating a guy from the second, but I don't feel like I was lost having missed the second book. First book felt like a gay noir, and I guess this one probably is too?

Andy is still a private investigator, now working on cases for the local queer community and matching lesbians up with gay men for lavender relationships. I'm terrible with names, so honestly, I can't remember the name of the guy who hires him for this new case. But the butler for the family from Book 1 asks Andy for help, because his friends who run an illegal gay book subscription have gone missing, and he's afraid that the feds now have the address book for all the subscribers and that his own involvement will ruin the Lamontaine household just as they managed to finally adopt a baby. Andy's investigation takes him from searching a bookstore to meeting the mob to running into the homophobic police chief (his former boss) to trying to elude a nosy reporter. And of course, that reporter won't back down from a good story, so she poses a threat to Andy's and his friends' safety.

This audiobook felt long, though I guess it's only 9ish hours and ~270 pages. I figured it out around the 60% mark, and then had to just see how the rest of the mystery would end. As an audiobook note, Deedee's (Didi? unsure) voice annoyed me on audio. The rest of the narration is perfect for this setting.

I just have mixed feelings on this one. I think the mystery involving a gay bookseller, a missing address book, secret memoirs, and mobsters was intriguing. I loved how this was a story of community: Harold sending letters to his closeted subscribers, Andy finding his way, Merle not knowing where he fits. And the question of "what do you do when telling the truth can get someone killed?" Like reality, it's not a clean answer, and maybe that's why I have mixed feelings. This is not a cozy where everything is tied up in a happy bow. It's a book that keeps reminding us that our choices have consequences, and real people have to keep living their lives after the story (for example, a newspaper story) ends. Good book, I'm just indecisive about the end (again, I guessed it early).

Still feels weird to me that Andy keeps calling everyone "gay" or "queer" though I do see articles online saying that those words were used in the 50s. Maybe they just feel too modern because they have been reclaimed by the current generation. And maybe the other 1950s words are still considered slurs, so it was safer to use words that would be comfy today. I need to read more LGBTQ+ history. Like previous books in the series, the homophobia is real, and Andy deals with the very real concern that he will be beaten up or killed if he runs into his old homophobic cop coworkers again.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio ARC.

4 stars

Welcome to the next installment in the Evander "Andy" Mills series!

I loved _Lavender House_ and entirely missed that there was a second book, so when this third came out, I got a fantastic two-fer! Of course, I'll be backtracking to that missed middle book in the near future. Why? Because Andy is a great character in an intriguing setting.

This time, Andy is in his usual spot - historic San Francisco - living his best P.I. life. Though, for his personal safety, he is not open about his sexuality in most circumstances, he manages to find a fair amount of community and to support other queer folks through his work. I found this to be fast paced, peppered with complex characters, and filled with a real sense of time and place (as all good historical fiction should be). I am excited to read much more in this series, including but not limited to the unintentionally skipped middle book!

Of course, I recommend this to prospective readers who enjoy an engaging and well-paced plot, nice sense of history, and great characterization.

I love this series! Evander Mills, Andy, is one of my favorite book detectives and Rosen has crafted a wonderful backdrop for these stories to take place against. I feel the urgency of existing as a queer person during McCarthyism but also the vibrancy and resiliency of queer folx in the face of danger. Each recurring character in this series is beautifully realized and their feelings are palpable. While I can figure out the main culprits about halfway through the book, there are always elements of the mystery- motivations, means, etc.- that catch me by surprise. I appreciate that Rosen can craft something surprising without being gory or too suspenseful. These mysteries are easy to read and while dealing with challenging subject matter, are also fun.