Review: Mirage City by Lev AC Rosen

Mirage City by Lev A.C. Rosen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC and an ALC of this book via Netgalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This is the 4th book in the Evander Mills series, however I have not read the previous books in the series and was able to follow along.  There are references to cases and relationship elements in Evander aka Andy's past that could have used more context, but they aren't relevant to the mystery aspect of the plot.  If you've read the prior books, I assume you would understand those references, and while I was confused at times I was able to follow along and would consider this able to be read as a standalone.  I do think I would recommend reading the series in order though.

This is set in the 50s when being openly queer was not acceptable, and while Andy has set up is private investigator business and found a home with people he can be his true self around in San Francisco the same is not true for everyone else.  He is hired to find some missing persons by a member of the secret Mattachine Society, a queer rights society.  The case takes him to his home town of LA where he runs into some unsavory characters and reunites with his mom.  His mother is a nurse who happens to work at a mental health clinic whose methods are not very humane.  Andy has kept alot from his mom, but he has to balance the case, his own true nature, and his love for her and his own morals before the end.  

I mainly listened to the audiobook and between the writing and the narration, this felt like an episode of Dragnet, a police procedural set in the 50s in LA, which I watched when I was kid.  While Andy is no longer a cop, I thought the author did a great job with the investigative elements and making this queer in a time when being queer was not OK in society.  

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