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.

I really enjoyed this book about books and stories. Lev AC Rosen’s writing and characters really drew me in. The mystery Andy was working to solve was interesting to follow, and the twists were good. I listened to the audiobook version, and Vikas Adam’s narration is amazing! Some parts of this book were really sad while others were empowering as the characters worked to find and/or create their own truth and stories or discover that of others. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This felt like the most direct story in the series so far - unlike the earlier books it didn’t feel quite so stretched thin. It also felt very timely (even though it’s set in the 50s) as it deals with queer books and the lengths people will go to prevent those books getting into the hands of people who need them.

Of course, we also had several layers of mystery. And I like that this one focused on Andy’s temperament and his ties to toxic masculinity (ie his hero complex).

Overall, this is a pretty cozy series with queer characters in a realistic 1950s backdrop that doesn’t shy away from murder, blackmail, corruption, etc