The Tuxedo Society 

• Author: Paul Rudnick
• Genre: Mystery
• Publication Date: May 26, 2026
• Publisher: Atria Books

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If Guy Ritchie directed an episode of Queer Eye, it might look something like this hilarious and action-packed spy thriller by Paul Rudnick, acclaimed screenwriter and author of Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style, that blends espionage and social commentary, with an elite, gay secret society.

They are fierce patriots. They are licensed to kill. And they are really, really gay. Welcome to democracy’s secret weapon, the Tuxedo Society.

When Andrew Birnbaum, a struggling actor making ends meet by working in a candle shop, gets invited to have dinner with the exclusive Tuxedo Society by his best friend, Brock, his life takes an unexpected turn. What seems like a group of wealthy socialites gathering for gossip and cocktails quickly spirals into a world of espionage, danger, and hilarity.

Andrew soon meets Reggie O’Malley, a Navy SEAL with a penchant for black tie, who recruits Andrew to join the society’s covert mission to protect national security. Armed with gadgets like an inflatable life raft backpack, a yoga mat that doubles as an assault rifle, and, of course, an AMEX Black Card, Andrew quickly finds himself tackling spies, thwarting assassinations, and facing a host of unexpected threats in settings from the White House to the Vatican to the Summer Olympic Games.

The stakes escalate when Andrew and his comrades are sent on a jet-setting mission to uncover the truth about an ancient artifact. Along the way, they clash with oligarchs, crooked senators, and a smarmy televangelist with sinister plans for world domination.

Packed with Paul Rudnick’s signature wit, The Tuxedo Society is a wild ride through decadence, danger, and unexpected heroism, as Andrew discovers that saving the world might just be the role he’s been waiting for.

This sounded like such a fun story that I couldn’t resist. Espionage and social commentary combined with humor and a secret society of gay men? Color me intrigued, and I was so excited to get to this one. Since I was late in reading this, I listened to part of it as an audiobook, which was immensely amusing.

It was so easy to like Andrew, the main character. He’s 25, an aspiring actor, and he pays the bills by working at a candle shop. So when his friend Brock invites him to dinner with the illustrious Tuxedo Society, he can’t wait to see what it is all about. And what is it all about? Apparently it’s about gay men wearing tuxedos and having a hidden agenda, which was a good start. But once he gets recruited, he sees what lies underneath the gossipy socialite facade.

Before long, Andrew finds himself on a mission. Things move at a pretty fast pace from there, and it reads like a cozy mystery combined with LGBTQ+ politics, which was a great mashup. It includes some elements of magical realism, which felt a bit over the top and took a little away from a story that was already over the top. Clearly, this didn’t impact my enjoyment or my rating for the story.

This isn’t a perfect book, although it came close enough for me to become my first five star read of July. It takes a lot for a book to do more than make me chuckle, and this one accomplished that easily—it had me cracking up and it made me laugh so hard at times that I woke my dogs up. The story itself is more than a little over the top, but it was still a really enjoyable read. I love when humor is incorporated and there are not only some ridiculous situations the MC finds himself in, Andrew and Reggie especially were hilarious.

Reggie becomes sort of a mentor to Andrew, but he’s more than a little rough around the edges, with a sweet, kind heart. He’s another funny character, and the interactions between Andrew and Reggie were one of my favorite parts of the book. The side characters are a little flat and we don’t really ever get to know too much about them, while the major players in the book (mostly Andrew and Reggie) are much more well-rounded. I would have liked to see a little more depth from the side characters, but I’m also hoping that this is the start to a series, so if there is another book we might get to know the side characters better. Even so, I absolutely loved the cast of characters. 

The pacing is consistently fast. I found myself having to go back and restart because I’ve been reading some really slow books and this is fast enough that I really had to focus while reading. Genre-wise, the fast pace felt natural, although at times, I had to reread a scene just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. It did feel a little chaotic at the end, but the story was such a good one that it didn’t make a big impact.

I love the idea of a society of spies that are exclusively gay, and it leads to a lot of campy humor. The spy gadgets were really fun to hear about—a yoga mat that doubles as a rifle, exploding power bars, and a black Amex card with some special privileges, and it really brought home the Bond-esque feel of the story while maintaining the wonderfully over the top-ness that separates this from any other mystery or spy novel I’ve read. Even the villains were unique and fascinating, and they were well-developed characters. If you’ve read any of my reviews, you’ll know how much I love the found family trope, and it’s done beautifully in this novel. The Tuxedo Society becomes a found family group pretty quickly, and I was absolutely here for it.

Overall, this was such a fun and funny book. The characters find themselves going from Manhattan to Long Island to Vatican City and beyond, and while it didn’t exactly feel realistic, it was an engrossing read and I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next, making me seriously wish for a sequel! The diverse cast of characters incorporates some gay stereotypes, but as someone who grew up on Long Island, Andrew’s character just screamed ‘typical Long Island gay man,’ and I was thrilled to see that I wasn’t wrong. Also, the author’s familiarity with Long Island is easy to see since I was able to identify with quite a few of the places and characters, making the story feel a little like home for me. While there are some aspects I didn’t love, such as the super-fast pacing, the flat side characters, and the inclusion of magical realism on top of everything, there was enough that I liked that it was easy to overlook the other things. The found family feel among the Tuxedo Society and their allies was comfortable and easy, and it kept me eagerly reading on. Rudnick is a new-to-me author, but not for long, because I’ll be checking out more of his work while keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel to this.

Bottom line: A unique, hilarious take on a society made up of gay men engaging in espionage, with some heartwarming moments, a found family dynamic, and a breakneck pace, this has become my favorite recent read.

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