The third installment of Rosen's Evander Mills historical mysteries really cements it as a favourite series for me, rather than just a couple of favourite books.

I love how Rosen creates the settings and time period of these novels. "X city is another character in the story" is a real cliche, but I really think that's true of this series. Queer, 195os San Francisco is beautiful and claustrophobic and complete atmospheric. Lavender House gave use the isolated manor house and something like a locked room mystery. The Bell in the Fog took us out into the 'real' world in San Francisco with under the radar queer bars and police raids. Rough Pages expands to add some really interesting 1950s elements: the mafia and book censorship. How those things all come together makes for a compelling story!

The characters are great too, and it's been a delight to see Andy really settling in, finding his place in the community, and developing some of the friendships he's made in the previous books. The mystery was a strong one, and while I had my suspicions, Rosen pulls off enough twists and turns that I was never quite sure I was onto something. It was a fun ride!

Rough Pages is a great novel in a brilliant series, and I really hope we continue to see Evander Mills taking on case for a long time to come.

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.

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

The third installment in the private detective Evander Mills series and it’s as good as the first two.
I love the time period in dark and foggy San Francisco.
Andy has to find out who killed the owner of a book shop that sold “questionable books” and also had a list of patrons who purchased their mail order book service. Not your mainstream books.
This series seems to get better with each book and I look forward to number four.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.. 4⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings: historical homophobia, historical racism

Detective Andy Mills returns to Lavender House at the request of Pat who suspects foul play in the disappearance of 2 queer booksellers. If the police are involved and gain access to the list of buyers, the entire family and their recent adoption could be in jeopardy. Can he solve the case before the list is leaked and his closest friends are put at risk?

DNF @ 37%. This is the third installment of the Evander Mills detective series by Lev Ac Rosen, and while I liked the first book, I did not enjoy the second or what I read of the third as much. It seems that the writing is lacking comparatively, and honestly, I am sick of this back and forth between Andy and Gene. It took forever for them to get together (mind you, I love a good slow burn, but this was just lack of communication) and now that they have, Gene is still acting very uninterested. I just do not see finishing this book as a constructive use of my time.

Despite saying all of this, if you are someone who is interested in queer history and mysteries, this will be right up your alley. It is definitely an interesting storyline, I just don’t think it is the right fit for me.

Thank you to Forge Books and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC, all opinions are my own.

Queer historical fiction fans, this book series is for you!
If you haven’t read Lavender House or The Bell in the Fog, I do not recommend jumping right into Rough Pages. You really need to read LH to set the scene for the other books and TBITF is my favorite book of the three so definitely go back and read both!

Rough Pages continues the story of gay ex-cop turned private detective Evander "Andy" Mills. This time he is investigating the mysterious disappearance of two bookstore owners, who also have a secret queer book club where they send illegal books through the mail. Yes, in the 1950's queer books were illegal and the federal government was raiding bookstores and putting owners in jail for selling queer literature. It felt particularly poignant to be reading this book during banned books week, it’s amazing how much has changed over the past 70 years and how much hasn’t changed at all.

Without giving too many spoilers away, this case involves the mafia, an incredibly tenacious newspaper journalist, brings Andy into the dangerous orbit of his old police chief, and brings us back to Lavender House again! One of my favorite things about these books is that there is never just one mystery to solve and I loved all of the twists. And it totally kept me guessing until the end!

I will say that none of these books (and this one in particular) are easy reads. Being openly queer was illegal and seeing the lengths that people had to go to hide who they were is truly heartbreaking. I felt the fear of exposure, fear of punishment, fear of death that all of these characters were facing. And again, how much has actually changed in the past 70 years?

While this is not a cozy mystery series, it is an incredibly atmospheric and well researched one and any fan of queer or historical fiction should pick these books up!

In the third installment of the Evander Mills Series, Andy finds himself back at Lavender House. Pat has been helping with a queer bookstore, but it hasn’t opened in a while and no one has seen the owners in even longer! This bookstore runs a queer delivery service with names and addresses so it could be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands! Through an incredibly layered mystery he meets a cast of characters that all seem to suspicious for their own good and too many loose ends.
I absolutely loved this one! So many twists, turns and motives. Such high stakes! Unsure if this is the end for Evander if it is, its a decent end to the series, if not I absolutely look forward to more from him!

Just like the previous books in the series, the author Lev AC Rosen tells a brilliant mystery in Rough Pages, asking complicated questions and immersing the reader in the atmospheric 1950’s San Francisco. In the third book in the Evander Mills series, the story has “Andy” trying to solve a mystery that ends up being far more complicated and layered than expected. And in trying to solve it, the story leads the reader to questions about who gets to have access to telling their story and how far you would go for the truth.
What I love the most about this series is the complex characters. Andy is not simple and neither are his relationships. But I love the way found family comes together in this story in particular, community and friendship helping bridge the gap in a world that at the time was difficult for the LGBTQ community. But I also like the way that resonates in the present day, asking who gets to tell the stories of the community and how important those stories are told, how integral it is that those voices are heard. The mystery is brilliant, in the way Andy puts together the pieces and the truth of what really happened. But just as important is how the truth is presented.
If you love brilliant complex mysteries, this is the third in the series. You don’t have to read the other two but I highly recommend you do as certain aspects of this novel will make more sense if you have done so. But it is a story that will immerse you in its world and make you contemplate what stories are important to hear. I hope for more stories like this one.

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

Rough Pages is the third entry in the Evander Mills series. Andy is a great character, full of contradictions as are most people. And he has a lot of secrets to keep. When he takes on the case of a missing bookseller, he quickly discovers that nothing and no one is what they seem. Highly recommended.

4.5/5 ⭐️
The third Evander Mills mystery finds him investigating the disappearance of a bookstore owner who had a mail subscription program for gay literature. He is not the only disappearance though - the mailing list has also disappeared. It is even more dire for Andy as some of his close friends at the Lavender House are on that list. As he investigates, he discovers potential ties to the mob as well as a pesky reporter who won't leave him alone.

Another great one in this series! I thought the second book, the Bell in the Fog, was slower than Lavender House, which I devoured. However, this one felt more to the original pace, but didn't have any of the rushed plot lines I felt like existed in Lavender House. It was a really good mystery, and almost reminded me of more 30s style noir mysteries. Rosen does such a good job handling the historical element of this and the dangers the LGBTQ+ community faced. I thought Rose's character was such an interesting juxtaposition here - someone who saw what presenting queer stories could do in terms of normalizing, yet she also didn't care about any potential effect on the subjects of her stories. Additionally, we get some good plot development all around - for Andy, Pat, the family at the Lavender House. Plus we get almost maybe like a nemesis for Andy? Don't want to give anything away, but it seems like a potential longtime adversary. Can't wait to see what awaits Andy!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

**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!!

Fabulous addition to a terrific series! The mystery is absorbing (love that it focuses on a bookstore!), and the depiction of gay life in 1950s San Francisco is powerful and deeply compelling. An excellent read.

After being outed as gay, former San Francisco Police Department detective Evander “Andy” Mills has been building his private investigator business and establishing himself both as a gay man and ally in the queer community. Instead of raiding gay bars, he now helps queer clients navigate a system hell-bent on persecuting them. Putting his detective skills to work, Andy solves mysteries, crimes, and more for the queer community. Most recently, Pat, a gay butler whom Andy met while working a case at Lavender House, has come to Andy with a problem. Pat helps bookstore proprietor Howard with a book service that puts books by, for, and about queer people in queer people’s hands. But the post office has been cracking down on “obscene” materials being sent through the mail. Pat’s worried that this book service is about to endanger not just all of Howard’s patrons, but Pat and the whole family at Lavender House.

It should have been simple for Andy to go to Howard’s bookstore and talk to him. In reality, Andy finds the shop is closed and Walter is missing…along with boxes of books meant for the queer book service. His worst fears about the Feds having Howard’s list might actually be true. The stakes couldn’t be higher when Andy bumps into two dark omens. The first is a clever reporter with brass balls named Rose Rainmeyer who is determined to tease out all the details of the case Andy is working on for a story–repercussions to those involved be damned. The second is Andy’s former chief who gave a modicum of leniency in not beating Andy to within an inch of his life when he was outed as gay, but makes no promises if Andy continues to meet with Rose.

Rough Pages is the third story in the Evander Mills series by author Lev AC Rosen and takes place in San Francisco in the early 1950s. Like the previous installments, the reality of being queer during this period of history is vividly reflected in how the cast behaves and reacts to the world around them. Unlike the other books, I feel like this one has an even sharper edge to it through Andy’s former police chief and the blunt way the chief expresses his views on queer identities. I thought this was an excellent way to reinforce the harsh reality that queer people faced during the time; the dialogue from the chief was especially illustrative of how awful the status quo mindset of the time was.

Rosen has once again crafted a delightfully rich story that materializes out of what seems like nothing at first blush. Everything kicks off with Pat admitting that there is potentially a list that has names and addresses for queer people all over the city, state, or even country, and that this list is missing. Andy’s first venture out to get information lands him zero leads and seems like it will go nowhere, but slowly starts to open up to one lead after another, with Andy methodically pursuing each one. It was a pleasure to watch the details mount until, eventually, someone phrases something just right, which allows Andy to draw some critical connections. Even as he’s cracking the case, Andy realizes it’s a two-step solution to solving the mystery of what happened to the list and to Howard.

I loved how there is virtually a whole new slate of side characters introduced and, by the end of the story, I clearly understood how each of them fit into the plot. Several supporting characters from previous books are also back, including Pat and Elsie from the Lavender House. I loved how Pat’s experience with Lavender House mimics Andy’s. The family says (and believe and generally behave like) Pat and Andy are family, but Pat and Andy are reluctant to accept that. Over the course of the book, I felt like both Pat and Andy started to understand that they were “family” in a broader sense and accept that they were indeed, at least in some meaningful way, part of Elsie’s family.

Gene, Andy’s boyfriend, is also back in this story. His role is somewhat limited, but is also achingly bittersweet at times. Andy is head over heels, but he begins to feel like Gene is pulling away. There is a pivotal scene involving Gene, a liquor supplier for the bar, and Andy that sets things in motion for a make-or-break moment for our couple. It’s just a small part of the overall story, but I enjoyed seeing these two identify and try to address a major problem that was affecting their relationship.

Overall, I thought Rough Pages was a terrific read. Mostly, I think this could be read as a standalone if you haven’t read the previous two books, though you might appreciate the depth of Andy’s relationship to Pat, Elsie, and Gene a little better if you do. If you’re a fan of mysteries with a dash of thriller thrown in just as Andy breaks his case and runs the highest risk of running into danger, then I think you’ll really love this story.

I love this book, and this series, so stinking much. Rosen does a wonderful job of storytelling and the words make me feel like I'm present in the room with these characters. The plot flows smoothly, the content is interesting, and there's a perfect amount of continuation from the previous two books that keep you engaged in the longevity of the characters. I really need there to be more books in this series :').

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

A delightful cozy mystery read in the Evander Mills series featuring a queer Private Investigator and his cases in the 1950s. Private Detective Evander "Andy" Mills is finally on a new case and his latest case has taken him back to where his career started: Lavender House. This time Evander has to figure out what has happened to a missing person who has been specializing in mailing queer books.... and now he's gone. This new case will have Andy seeing some old friends and meeting new suspects as he investigates the mafia and the government worlds, while also dealing with past relationships and people who knew him from his police detective days. Can Andy find out what happened and save all those at Lavender House? This series has been such a fun read for me and this newest addition to the series is a delightful read. The story is so atmospheric and the mystery is always filled with twists and turns. I love Andy and getting to see him get more comfortable with his queerness as well as opening himself up to friendships and romance has been a delight. This series is absolutely one I'd recommend!

Release Date: October 1,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group | Forge Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Rough Pages is another solid addition to the Evander Mills series. We catch up with Andy still helping out the queer community with his PI work above the Ruby club. This time he gets roped into a case through his friend Pat, who is worried about his favorite bookshop owners who have been absent for a week. As Andy begins his investigation, he runs into an old acquaintance who quickly inserts herself into the action, for better or worse. We catch up with old faces and meet some stellar new characters who quickly win you over with their heart. The story is bittersweet, and I enjoyed the commentary on the freedom to read throughout the story.

Rough Pages is a continuation of Evander “Andy” Mills work as a P.I. under the roof of the Ruby. Things are going well for everyone until a bookseller goes missing, along with an extensive list of addresses of members to a queer book mailing subscription. A list that could harm those closest to Andy if the names were released. 

I first read Lavender House and The Bell in the Fog with my family, so I jumped on an opportunity to continue the series. It’s wonderful to see Andy becoming more comfortable in his own skin as a gay man working in the hidden queer community. Trying to help those around him in a time when being queer, and being found out, could mean being brutally attacked, if not worse. After all, it's only been nine months since his first case was closed, and this freedom to be himself is still new. 

Rough Pages, again, dealt with difficult topics of homophobia and racism. It's hard to read, and Rosen tackled both with grace. Your heart absolutely aches for the characters and what they have to deal with on a daily basis. 

While meeting many new characters, some favorites still pop in. I was so excited that the family at Lavender House from the first book, along with Elsie, Lee and Gene at the Ruby were still included in the plot. Like most mystery series, you don't necessarily have to read them in order, but I think you'll get the best experience starting from the beginning. 

Andy’s relationship with Gene (eeeeeeee!) is still growing and I love to see the honest communication between them. It's healthy, and wonderful, and you can tell that it's the best thing to happen to Andy.

While this wasn't my favorite book in the series, it was still one that kept me engaged and was a great addition to the series! I can't wait to read about more cases in the future.

You all know I loved <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59808133-lavender-house">Lavender House</a>, so imagine my delight in seeing another book. (This is actually the third, of course, but I hadn't realized it before I got the arc, and after checking a few reviews I decided that it would be standalone enough and fill in any details I missed, and sure enough, it absolutely was. I don't think I'd read it without reading Lavender House first, since it had so many ties back to that, but I was able to skip the Bell in the Fog without trouble. Though after this, I'll go back and read it)

Because, yeah, I loved, loved, LOVED this one. If anything, it was even better than Lavender House. The murder mystery in this one was more complicated, with more twists and turns; it was broader and the threat was a lot more direct and terrifying. I felt dread throughout it -- dread that Andy's old "cop buddies" would in fact come back and kill him, that the truth would come out and that all these innocent queer folk would get their lives ruined because their existence, at this time, was of course criminal in and of itself.

Great writing, great characters, great tension, and a fantastic murder mystery. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I loved this book and series and can't wait for more installments. The only problem was the book hangover where I just wanted more of the same and couldn't find anything like it. Books about books are always fun, on top of the mystery and characters readers have grown to love from the first two books. For fans of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart series, or Cat Sebastian's Midcentury NYC series.

4.5 stars and definitely my favorite of this series. PI, Andy Mills has taken on a case as a favor for his friend, Pat. He needs to find Howard and DeeDee who run an LGBTQ bookstore but seemed to have disappeared. The problem is that Howard was sending out "illicit" material to a select few customers and Pat is afraid that the Feds have discovered the list and will make trouble for his bosses, The Lamontaignes of Lavender House. Between the mob, a too-nosy reporter, and trouble with the SFPD's chief of police, Andy might be solving his toughest case yet. Especially when DeeDee turns up and Howard turns up dead.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Forge Books for this e-arc.*

4.5 stars
This book (and series) take place in San Francisco in the early 1950s when being gay isn't a crime but things like dancing and hand-holding between same-sex couples are. Evander "Andy" Mills was a police inspector until he was caught in a raid in a gay bar and fired. He now works as a PI for members of the gay community.

Rough Pages brings Andy back to Lavender House, a home where all the residents and staff are openly gay and keep each other's private lives a secret from the outside world. This is the first time Andy has been back in nine months and he does it as a favor to Pat who is the butler there and needs his help. Pat's friends own a bookstore that has a book service mailing gay titles to subscribers, which was illegal at the time. The friends, along with the mailing list, are missing from the store. If this list has fallen into the wrong hands, everyone on it could be in danger. Andy becomes involved in a risky search for the bookstore owners and the list. This storyline is suspenseful and full of surprises.

Like the other books in the series, Rough Pages has historical details about the times and what it was like for gay citizens. This book especially ramps up the tension and through Andy, we see how dangerous it was to be gay and never being able to relax and live your life the way you want. His romance with Gene is progressing, but Andy is always worried his actions will put both of them in danger. It's sad that the part of the story dealing with book bans is still all too relevant today. The mystery is suspenseful and the characters memorable. Each book could work as a standalone, but I'm glad I read all three in order so I could see Andy starting to embrace who he is and enjoy life. I highly recommend this book and this series and hope it continues!

I received an advance copy of this ebook at no cost from NetGalley, Forge Books, and Tor Publishing. My review is voluntary and unbiased.