#evander mills

[libraryleopard]

The gay soap-maker historical fiction literary universe…

[dkafterdark]

highly recommend the Evander Mills series by Lev A.C. Rosen! set in the 1950s in San Francisco, the main character is a gay man who has been outed and fired from his job at the SFPD. he's hired by a queer found family to solve a murder, and later starts a PI service for the queer community. it's absolutely fascinating and the character work is top notch. I just finished book 3, Rough Pages, and loved it!

[pridepages]

These are our stories, and we need to read them, no matter what the government says. We need to read them so we know there are more of us out there, a community waiting. —Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

Have you read Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen (2022)?

YES

NO

Voting ended onJun 2, 2025

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Historical Fiction Book Bracket: Round 2A

Choose a book:

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

Voting ended onJun 28, 2025

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Endorsement from submitter: "Shows the intersectional nature of the red scare and lavender scare from the perspective of a Chinese-American teen in San Francisco starting to understand her sexuality."

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Setting: San Francisco, 1954

Historical fiction, coming of age, 1950s, young adult

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen (Evander Mills #1)

Endorsement from submitter: "Evander Mills, a cop in the 1950s, was kicked out of the force when it came out that he was gay and was lucky to get out with his life. At his lowest and seeing no future, he's hired as a private detective to investigate a murder in a soap company, whose execs are living a very similar double life to the one he just lost. Lavender House (and its sequels in the Evander Mills series) is an unflinching look at the social dangers, a powerful historical mystery, and yet still kind and reminding us that despite everything, many of us (though not all) do make it through."

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret―but it's not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they've needed to keep others out. And now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in.

Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept―his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.

Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He's seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn't extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy―and Irene’s death is only the beginning.

When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business.

Setting: 1950s San Francisco

Historical fiction, mystery, whodunit, 1950s, adult

[tiniest-spook]

i’m listening to Bell in the Fog (Evander Mills) rn and so much of the experience has been “ahhhh awww 🥰” followed closely by “oh FUCK! noooo!!!”

[eruwaedhiel-in-an-impardis]

Evander Mills is the soggiest sadboi I have ever seen, I wanna put him in a cardboard box and shake him, but he would just sob so hard he'd soak the bottom of the cardboard box and it would tear off, sliding his little sorrowful lump out onto the floor where he would just lie there sniffling in a puddle of his own tears

He's the silent mysterious figure sitting in the shadowy corner of the (gay) bar bc if someone talked to him he'd just burst into tears and apologize for breathing, top notch character design, I need twenty more in this series

[cowboysecunit]

Where my Lavender House fanbase at