bookheaven | The Disaster Gay Detective Agency

The Disaster Gay Detective Agency by Lev A.C. Rosen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I asked for an arc of this because I love Rosen's historic fic, the Evander Mills series and this one sounded fun. I wanted to see his take on contemporary queer characters and...I was disappointed. This one really didn't work that well for me and it was a mix of plot and characters that I just struggled with. Our varying point of view characters (each with distinct chapters, no head hopping for those who don't like that) are Brandon, Nicole, Ian, and Ollie, former college friends who have remained friends in their late twenties (all still living in NYC)

Brandon is a hotelier and the most handsome of men has come into his hotel. Sure he and Jon have had a moment, he doesn't hesitate to go upstairs with 'towels' to have a one night stand, convinced it's more. Jon disappears the next day leaving behind a bag. Brandon takes the phone and as the blurb says, he thinks this is his Cinderella moment tries to find Jon. What he finds instead is Jon fleeing from a murder (which how that played out so did not work for me) and that Jon isn't even really Jon. (not spoilers, this is all in the blurb)

The other characters are drawn into this thanks to Brandon and to save him and Ollie (the other witness) from trouble, they need to figure out what's going on. Nicole is probably going to be the biggest help because she's a lawyer and also she's our Black lesbian overachiever who is all job no relationship type. Ian is the non-binary roommate of Brandon works in a bookstore by day, drag queen by night and Ollie is a trans masc dog walker who spends most of his time high on edibles.

I have to say they all felt more like pawns than real characters in a sense or maybe it's just that I don't like them much. Brandon the romantic is fine if you can handle his absolutely horrible decision making abilities. Ian is absolutely unpleasant. They are angry all the time. Granted, in America as I type this, queer people ought to be angry and afraid. But Ian is constantly angry and looking for fights (like yelling at a woman they think is homophobic because she's in a hurry and doesn't want her toddler son to touch an art book in the bookstore. I'm there thinking you jumped to that awful fast, maybe she doesn't want her toddler to destroy an expensive art book with sticky fingers). Ian is petty, especially about their ex boyfriend (who left because their rage is too much) and against their current would-be boyfriend who refuses to be constantly angry. Ian is exhausting and I dreaded their chapters.

Nicole isn't a horrible character but just once I'd like to see a successful woman who isn't working 20 hours a day and whines about not having a social life. We can be successful and date. Also I do wonder about the things she tells her friends. Personally don't know any woman who a) would fall asleep with their vibrator inside them b) would tell anyone that if it did happen.

Ollie just never clicked for me and I'm not sure why.

I don't want to spoil the murder for anyone as to why I didn't like it. Only I'm thinking this happens in broad daylight in NYC in a place where CCTV is everywhere.... I wasn't fond of the ending either. So yeah, sadly this one was a miss for me.

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