#rough pages

[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

[rubyredbonnetblue]

My queer book rec for the fall season!

I just reread Lavender House and The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen, and I need to talk about these books with more people!!

The setting is immersive and the characters are real and enjoyable. You've got time to read the first two before the third book comes out on Oct. 1st and is about books, so you know it's gonna be great.

[bookishpixiereads]

“Rough Pages” by Lev C. Rosen

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5 Stars

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group/Forge Books for the eARC of this book. It dropped last week! All opinions are my own.

“Rough Pages” is the third book in the Evander Mills noir-ish, queer, historical fiction detective series set in 1950s San Francisco. Outside of the murderous plots, the series provides a well-researched look into how queer people lived during that time period. I adore this series. I already had pre-ordered this book before I even read the ARC and I never do that.  

Evander “Andy” Mills is a gay private detective for queer people who can’t go to the police because the police are not friendly to the LGBTQ community. He was a cop for the San Francisco Police Department before he was fired after they found out he was gay. 

A friend of Andy comes to him with a case. The two owners of a queer-friendly bookstore have gone missing. Along with selling queer books from a store front, they have a mail-order service where they mail queer books to subscribers. And the fear, along with the safety of the owners, is that the list of subscribers could fall into the wrong hands and at the worst, those people’s lives could be in danger and at best, they could become the object of blackmail. Also, at this point in history, mailing queer books is a federal crime.

And this list potentially puts people that Andy’s holds dear at great risk. And he wants to do everything he can to keep them and their newly adopted baby safe.

Were the bookstore owners arrested by the Feds? Was this a Mafia hit done out of fear of the possible outing of one of their own? Was there a crime at all and are they just on vacation?

Andy also has to deal with a reporter who is getting a little too close for comfort and his former boss, who is making implicit and explicit threats to Andy’s safety. And is his own romantic life falling apart?

“Rough Pages” comes during the current political climate of banning books. And it has beautiful things to say about representation in books, why books are dangerous (in a good way), and books as a whole.

What’s more important truth or secrets? Especially if the truth puts peoples’ lives in danger. 

[skepwith]

Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen

This is the third terrific book featuring detective Evander “Andy” Mills, a gay PI in 1950s San Francisco. Andy is drawn into the world of queer pulp fiction, books that were legal to print but illegal to send through the US mail. A pair of local gay bookstore owners were doing just that—shipping books to a network of readers desperate for a glimpse of others like them—and now they've disappeared. Their entire client list, including Andy’s boyfriend Gene, is at risk unless Andy can find the missing booksellers, or at least their address book, before the government or the Mafia does.

Rosen’s historical research continues to shine, shedding light on a fascinating variety of queer people and how they lived their lives. A number of characters return from previous books as relationships evolve and deepen. Andy himself continues to grow, dodging his former police colleagues while trying to figure out his role as a gay PI.

Like the other Evander Mills books, Rough Pages is shot through with a kind of bittersweet optimism. Rosen chillingly conveys the perpetual cloud of fear and danger that queer people lived under, but he balances it with the joy of community and of being your true self among people who understand you. Though some of it feels depressingly familiar, it’s inspiring to know that people fought through it then and will do so again.

[ash-and-books]

Rating:4.5/5

Book Blurb:

Set in atmospheric 1950s San Francisco, Rough Pages asks who is allowed to tell their own stories, and how far would you go to seek out the truth.

Private Detective Evander “Andy” Mills has been drawn back to the Lavender House estate for a missing person case. Pat, the family butler, has been volunteering for a book service, one that specializes in mailing queer books to a carefully guarded list of subscribers. With bookseller Howard Salzberger gone suspiciously missing along with his address book, everyone on that list, including some of Andy's closest friends, is now in danger.

A search of Howard’s bookstore reveals that someone wanted to stop him and his co-owner, Dorothea Lamb, from sending out their next book. The evidence points not just to the Feds, but to the Mafia, who would be happy to use the subscriber list for blackmail.

Andy has to maneuver through both the government and the criminal world, all while dealing with a nosy reporter who remembers him from his days as a police detective and wants to know why he’s no longer a cop. With his own secrets closing in on him, can Andy find the list before all the lives on it are at risk?

Dive into the full Evander Mills series:

Lavender House The Bell in the Fog Rough Pages

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*

[alamusprime]

I usually go and do multiple passes for a page if I don't feel it right out the gate. Sometimes whole pages will disappear completely in order to get the flow feeling right. Can you spot the differences between these roughs and the finals?

[nongravity]

Found myself overworked for a few months and not posting any comics. But I'm back! Rough pages 70 & 71 of my comic-in-progress, Chocolat Noir  Dialogue transcribed on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/chocolat-noir-70-26277027