It’s no secret I’m a huge Lev A.C. Rosen fangirl, so today on the site I’m delighted to be revealing the cover of the first book of his brand-new mystery series, The Disaster Gay Detective Agency, releasing June 2, 2026 from Poisoned Pen Press! Here’s the story:
From award-winning, critically acclaimed crime writer Lev Rosen comes a punchy, hilarious mystery-thriller. Meet the disaster gays: They’re messy. They’re queer. And they’re about to solve a murder… Or die trying.
Brandon is a hopeless romantic. So when a handsome stranger named Jon checks in at the hotel he works at and invites Brandon to his room, Brandon ignores the advice of his crew―a group of loveable and messy queer twenty-somethings―and accepts. What follows is a tale as old as time: they hook up, Jon promises to text, Brandon falls in love, and Jon ghosts. Case closed―or is it?
When Jon checks out early, leaving behind a bag of belongings and his cellphone, Brandon takes the phone and sets out to find him, thinking that this must at last be his Cinderella story.
But he gets more than he bargained for when he witnesses a murder―and sees Jon fleeing the scene.
Determined (and not in over their heads whatsoever), Brandon, Ollie, Nicole, and Ian decide to solve the mystery of the murder and uncover Jon’s true identity…they just have to figure it out before a target falls on their own backs.
And here’s the absolutely delightful cover, illustrated by Eleanor Laleu and designed by Erin Fitzsimmons!
Lev Rosen writes books for people of all ages, including the Evander Mills series, which began with the Macavity Award winning Lavender House (Anthony finalist, Lambda finalist, Best Book of the Year from Buzzfeed, Library Journal, Amazon, Bookpage, and others) and continues with The Bell in the Fog, (Publisher’s Weekly Editor’s Choice, Best Book of the year from Amazon, CrimeReads and Autostraddle), Rough Pages (Lambda, Joseph Hansen and Audie Award Finalist, Autostraddle Best of the Year) and Mirage City. His recent YA novels include You’ve Goth My Heart, Emmett (Best Book of the year from Kirkus and Amazon), Lion’s Legacy (Best Book of the year from Booklist and the New York Public Library) and Camp (A Kirkus Best Book of the Century, Best Book of the year from Forbes, Elle, and The Today Show and others).