This is the third book in the Evander Mills mystery series. Evander “Andy” Mills is a disgraced former cop turned private investigator who takes on cases for members of the local gay community who can’t go to the police. In this story, Andy investigates the missing proprietors of a gay friendly book shop along with their mailing list, which could ruin the lives of a lot of his friends and loved ones. In addition to the mystery, we see Andy learn to live (somewhat) openly and have an adult relationship with bartender Gene. Gene is part Filipino in addition to being gay, so he has racism and homophobia to navigate.
Andy’s investigation starts back at Lavender House where his journey as a PI started. Pat, the butler, volunteers at the book shop and brings the case to Andy’s attention. From there Andy encounters a tenacious reporter, his old police chief and the mafia, all of whom must be handled carefully to avoid outing both Andy and his friends. The personal and emotional stakes are high and while the conclusion wasn’t entirely surprising, it was compelling enough to keep me reading until the end.
This book is great at building atmosphere and San Francisco in the 50s is a character all by itself. Andy’s anxiety while he works to solve the mystery is palpable and it’s very easy to get caught up in the mystery. I would have liked to see more of Andy and Gene working through their relationship trouble. It seemed to be solved rather quickly. Otherwise, this is a great read and I can’t wait for the next.