IT'S NEARLY HALLOWEEN and I know you know that means you need to get as many spooky recommendations as you can because tis' the season. And boy do I got one for you ESPECIALLY if you're a fan of queer historical fiction (hello! it's the next The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue) I crouched down and snatched it up, framed between both sets of thumb and forefinger to read in the dim light:BLACK CROSS ORDER OF OCCULT OCCURRENCES PRETERNATURAL INVESTIGATIONNO. 98 1⁄2 PORTLAND PLACE PLOTTHE MISSING is set in Victorian England, and features a group called The Black Cross who hunt down and dispel ghosts and ghouls. It reminded me ALOT of Clockwork Angel and Lockwood and Co, a little of Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue as well as the Supernatural TV Show because of how they investigate the deaths and what is tying the ghost to the place they're haunting. Will, the main character, is clairvoyant. Will's ability to see ghosts draws them to join The Black Cross and help hunt them. One thing I really liked about this was how they had to determine what was keeping the ghosts tethered and go after that. The investigation aspect was really fun. I also liked how there was discussions about if killing the ghosts was really okay. Because the ghosts could talk, interact with their surrounding and befriend the living, there was a lot of discussions about if it was right to hunt them down and I really enjoyed that it seemed pretty unique for a ghost book. “You act as though we’ve killed someone. She’s already dead. It was a bloody ghost.”“Yes, all right, - The girls are dead, but they’d been like us once. Feeling, breathing, thinking, living, and Della still thought and felt, even as a spirit.” CHARACTERSOne thing I loved about the characters was their diversity. I think queer historical fictions are great because it's important to normalise diversity that has always existed. Will, the main character, is gender queer. How they deal with this in their space is one of the main themes of the book aside from the ghosty elements. I thought it was really well written and I loved following Will as they explored this aspect of their identity. I enjoyed the majority of the side characters, but I do think they could have been better developed. For me one of the biggest disappointments of this whole book was Jessie - she is the only female character reoccurring but her development is weak and she was very much the "pretty, but not very smart, giggly" trope girl and that was disappointing. I would have loved a strong, well developed female character to appear in the cast. I sometimes got the characters confused because of their names being similar, but I enjoyed Clement and Cain's characters, you do get a pretty good sense of who they are as the story goes on and I thought both had interesting backstories, as well as a nice bit of grey morality. I also really liked the friendship that grew between the characters and the tiny hint of romance was sweet. I'm really hoping this is a series because I'd love to see the characters have greater arcs and more development across a series - especially Jessie! It's just disappointing not to have even one female character to root for. I'm going to talk about the representation a bit now Will's anatomical sex is female but they identify their gender as somewhere between male and female depending on the day. Will has dressed and appeared in public as male for most of their life. I asked for opinions on the rep on twitter and one person said it sounded bi-gender, another genderfluid. I've decided to just stick with the general describer gender queer - but here is some passages on the representation "I felt both a young lady and a young man. Not at the same time—sometimes, Will; other times, Willow. And despite how it sounds, it all felt very normal to me. My normal. A kind of bi-genderness, something fluid between the two. Simple as that." “Well,” I replied bitterly, “sometimes I am one and then the other. Either way, I’m Will."“It’s not that I don’t want to be a lady,” I said. “Only that some days, I do not orient as one, while other days I do. I don’t mind it. Really, I don’t. I hardly even think about it. That’s how simple it is to me. I suppose I’m fluid between the two, male and female. A mix of both. Intermediate. Queerly gendered.” I'd love comments about the rep from anyone who is gender queer - as I'm cis I didn't want to make a call, just post the info so everyone knows. I also would like to say the author identifies as gender queer so this book can be considered ownvoices. one more note: I find it strange the publishers chose to put a femme model on the cover when there is a heavy emphasis on Will's desire to present as masculine. I do not know who the cover model is or why they were chosen specifically, but I just find this a strange choiceThe main rep aside, I also really liked how some of the side characters were also diverse and how diversity was just kind of sprinkled and normalised in the background. Like mention two women were dating, or that a man had interest in another man at a party, and stuff like that. I also loved how Lenk was able to find a balance between writing a queer story that wasn't hurtful because Will was generally accepted, but also that explored the hardships and prejudices of the time period and people in it. In conclusion I really liked this ! The writing was fun and the book was action packed. The ghost elements were spooky, and I loved the development of the setting and the Black Cross. How Will's identity was built into the story was really well done and we definitely need more historical romances like this. I just hope that the side characters get more development in the sequels.Also this book is free on kindle unlimited as an fyi! thankyou to month9books for providing me with the arc and oppurtunity to read The Missing before release. All these opinions in this review are my own!