The Bell in the Fog (Evander Mills, 2)
PI Evander “Andy” Mills keeps an office above Ruby’s, a mixed gay bar, where both men and women seek love and community in homophobic 1952 San Francisco. He’s hired by his ex, James, a closeted Navy officer, to track down photos taken clandestinely of James and a rentboy cavorting together in a hotel. Only four days remain before the blackmailer publicizes the images and ruins James’s life, a time limit which serves to intensify the tension. Andy is both aided and hindered by drag king femme fatale Helen, who used to be good friends with both men back in their Navy days.
I guessed one of the twists pretty far in advance, although the majority kept me guessing until the carefully-played reveals near the end. Overall the pacing is well done. An outsider in the gay world because he used to be a cop and an outsider in the straight world because he’s gay in an era intensely hostile towards queer people, Andy is a fascinatingly queer take on the usual solitary, noir detective. Interestingly, by the end of the story, he manages to gain the trust of his community and even get together with a cute new love interest, making him less of a loner. I enjoyed the sexy romance subplot, which adds to, rather than distracts from, the main mystery.
But The Bell in the Fog isn’t just well-written and genuinely gripping. The sheer amount of research put into the project thoroughly impressed me. Rosen uses period-accurate slang and other details that fellow LGBTQ history nerds will appreciate. The sheer amount of references to real history serve not only to build a realistic world for the story, but also to educate the reader. For this, I commend him.
