Murder off the page: a 42nd Street Library Mystery by Con Lehane

From Goodreads synopsis:

A note from bartender Brian McNulty, Raymond Ambler’s friend, confidant, and sometimes adviser, sets the librarian sleuth off on a murder investigation, one that he pursues reluctantly until a second murder upends the world as he knows it. The second victim is a lady friend of McNulty’s—and the prime suspect is McNulty himself.

As Ambler pursues his investigation, he discovers that the murdered woman had a double life. Her intermittent visits to the city—a whirlwind of reckless drinking and illicit liaisons with men she met in the cocktail lounges—had their counterpart in suburban Fairfield County Connecticut where, as Dr. Sandra Dean, she practiced dermatology and lived in a gated community with a doting husband and a young daughter.

While Ambler looks into the past of Dr. Sandra Dean to understand the murder of Shannon Darling in the present, NYPD homicide detective Mike Cosgrove investigates the men in Shannon Darling’s life. She might have been murdered because she frustrated the wrong man. It could have been a jealous wife. In fact, any number of people might have murdered Shannon Darling. Or, as Ambler suspects, did someone murder Dr. Sandra Dean?

Yet, no matter which way he turns, McNulty emerges as a suspect. Ambler’s dilemma seems insurmountable: Should he keep searching for the truth behind the murders if the deeper he probes, the more evidence he finds that points to the morally rumpled bartender as a murderer?


My thoughts:
This is the third book in the series set in New York Public Library crime fiction collection, featuring Raymond Ambler, the collection curator and a few other characters that seem to make up the permanent cast: Adele, another librarian and Raymond's love interest, Johnny,Raymond's grandson, and Brian McNulty, a bartender and Raymond's friend.
Shannon Darling is working on her first research which seems to be centered around a crime writer's old letters. Raymond and Adele also keep seeing her in a bar where Shannon completely changes her behaviour under the influence of just a few drinks. She starts saying things that make her an easy target of unwanted male attention. A few days later she appears to be involved in a murder that happened in a hotel room. Was the murder victim one of the men who took advantage of her vulnerability? and where did Brian, the bartender, disappear? he tried to protect Shannon mostly from her own bad choices. When Raymond finds out that both Shannon and Brian are on the run, he knows there must be more to this attractive and mysterious woman than meets the casual eye. Then, Shannon herself is found murdered and McNulty becomes the prime suspect. Can Raymond and Adele unravel the mystery which is also connected to the crime writer's letters, and therefore, the library collection?
I hadn't read the previous books in the series, but there is enough in the book to fill the gaps. The story kept me engaged. There was something old-fashioned about it, something from black and white films with private investigators and amateur sleuths. Of course, that's what Raymond is, he is the guy who asks questions, gets data ( he keeps quoting Sherlock Holmes- 'Give me data, I cannot make bricks without clay!')and digs deep into the victim's murky past.
It was a quick and entertaining read and I would like to continue with the series especially to how Raymond's relationships with his friends and family are going to develop.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Minotaur Books for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

---