A fairy tale-esque short story that felt too short to accomplish all that it wanted to. The writing was great here, and the characterization was decently done for the genre and length, but the ending felt a bit rushed, especially in comparison with the exposition.

Just found out this might be the last book in the series and I’m so sad. I think this is a genuinely important series - it is well written, engaging, has interesting and fully developed characters, and the mystery is tightly plotted, of course - but the way it highlights queer history makes me feel like these characters could’ve been real people. I’ve learned so much about different aspects of queer culture and rights movements in the 50s (obviously a fictionalized version in incorporating them into a mystery story, but clearly based on historical facts and references). I always finish these novels feeling grateful to live now and see how far we’ve come, but also a bit depressed seeing just how long the community has struggled and hidden for, and that we are still seeing a push towards the regression of our rights. Still, there is a sense of hope that emerges from this series. I really enjoy the sense of community here in these stories, especially seeing how it grows in this one, and how it can persist and even form through struggle.

“I can see now how my smile doesn’t fit right, how it’s forced. I was afraid of what the world would do to me. I put the photo back down. The world’s done plenty, and I’m still here.” 💜

unfortunately, did not like this one as much as the first. I felt like the entire first half was just melodrama about characters I really disliked, plus so many who seemed to have no depth and ones from the first book who were brought back just for the sake of it. I could’ve enjoyed having familiar characters return, but a lot of them weren’t compelling to care about and really added nothing interesting here. It picked up in the final third, and the pieces came together eventually, but it really didn’t feel necessary for there to be that much buildup before the first murder even happened. not too sure if I’ll continue this series, although I did find the MCs voice entertaining at least.