lavender house & a bell in the fog
May. 20th, 2024 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
porticoi've never really gotten along with noir, for reasons I've never felt compelled to articulate. i acknowledge that it's an important aspect of murder mystery as a genre and i've watched enough noir films to appreciate them while knowing they're not for me. it was while i was reading Lev AC Rosen's A Bell in the Fog that i finally put it together.
Rosen's books are set in 1950s San Francisco and follow private eye Evander (Andy) Mills. andy's previous career as a cop came to an abrupt and dramatic end when he was caught in a raid of a gay club--in flagrante delicto, as it were. having lost everything, andy is drinking his way towards a trip into the bay when he is invited to solve a murder at a wealthy family's home. they want him specifically because they know the state that he's in, which means that he's safe to bring into their midst and reveal their secret to him: that despite their conservative image, nearly everyone in the family (and employed at the house) is queer.
Lavender House follows andy as he solves the murder and gradually figures out who he is if he isn't a cop, and what the rest of his life might have in store for him. it's a beautifully written book, evocative and historical. lavender house as a place may seem like a fairyland--it certainly does to andy--but it's set in a world that looks and feels like the 1950s. the characters are complex and interesting, and andy is a sympathetic blank slate.
A Bell in the Fog, the follow-up, has andy back in san francisco with an office above a gay club, a crush on a handsome bartender, and a past. he's trying to find his niche as a PI specifically for SF's queer population, but is hampered by his known history as a cop. his past comes back into his life when the man he loved during the war hires him to track down a blackmailer. he finds himself having to choose between helping living queers and finding justice for dead ones, and it has to be him because nobody else in a position to help cares enough to. it's a more overtly noir-ish book in setting, and it's what finally made me think about my feelings about the genre.
straight noir has always struck me as sad for no good reason. it's full of sad men who have made and continue to make poor choices, and women who so often come to bad ends. reading A Bell in the Fog, i realized that it worked for me because the sadness made sense. being gay in 1952 was objectively difficult! the world was against you and folks had no problem with letting you know it. and yet, the book is full of people determined to live well and be happy. andy is gradually becoming one of them. it walked the line of bleakness but didn't tip over, and that really, really worked for me.
Rosen's books are set in 1950s San Francisco and follow private eye Evander (Andy) Mills. andy's previous career as a cop came to an abrupt and dramatic end when he was caught in a raid of a gay club--in flagrante delicto, as it were. having lost everything, andy is drinking his way towards a trip into the bay when he is invited to solve a murder at a wealthy family's home. they want him specifically because they know the state that he's in, which means that he's safe to bring into their midst and reveal their secret to him: that despite their conservative image, nearly everyone in the family (and employed at the house) is queer.
Lavender House follows andy as he solves the murder and gradually figures out who he is if he isn't a cop, and what the rest of his life might have in store for him. it's a beautifully written book, evocative and historical. lavender house as a place may seem like a fairyland--it certainly does to andy--but it's set in a world that looks and feels like the 1950s. the characters are complex and interesting, and andy is a sympathetic blank slate.
A Bell in the Fog, the follow-up, has andy back in san francisco with an office above a gay club, a crush on a handsome bartender, and a past. he's trying to find his niche as a PI specifically for SF's queer population, but is hampered by his known history as a cop. his past comes back into his life when the man he loved during the war hires him to track down a blackmailer. he finds himself having to choose between helping living queers and finding justice for dead ones, and it has to be him because nobody else in a position to help cares enough to. it's a more overtly noir-ish book in setting, and it's what finally made me think about my feelings about the genre.
straight noir has always struck me as sad for no good reason. it's full of sad men who have made and continue to make poor choices, and women who so often come to bad ends. reading A Bell in the Fog, i realized that it worked for me because the sadness made sense. being gay in 1952 was objectively difficult! the world was against you and folks had no problem with letting you know it. and yet, the book is full of people determined to live well and be happy. andy is gradually becoming one of them. it walked the line of bleakness but didn't tip over, and that really, really worked for me.