Con Lehane’s second 42nd Street Library Mystery, Murder in the Manuscript Room, isn’t scheduled for release until Nov. 21. You might want to think about pre-ordering it through the Web Store, https://bit.ly/2yUdS8Y
Adam Wagner has already turned it into one of his .GIFNotes at Criminalelement.com. Before reading Wagner’s notes, you might want to read the summary.
The second in Con Lehane’s 42nd Street Library mystery series,Murder in the Manuscript Room is a smart, compelling mystery in which the characters themselves are at least as interesting as the striking sleuthing.
“Not to be missed.” —Megan Abbott
“A story utterly relevant to the real-life horror story unfolding in America’s immigration politics.”—Sara Paretsky
When a murder desecrates the somber, book-lined halls of New York City’s iconic 42nd Street Library, Raymond Ambler, the library’s curator of crime fiction, has a personal interest in solving the crime. His quest to solve the murder is complicated by personal entanglements involving his friend—or perhaps more-than-friend—Adele Morgan. Not only does Adele’s relationship with the young woman staffer who was murdered get in the way of Ambler’s investigation, more disturbing for himis Adele’s growing interest in a darkly handsome Islamic scholar.
Soon the Intelligence Division of the New York Police Department takes over the case from NYPD homicide detective Mike Cosgrove, Ambler’s friend and sometimes partner-in-crime solving. Ambler suspects that the murder of the young woman, who’d been working at the library under an assumed name and the curious intervention of NYPD’s intelligence division are connected. The trail of intrigue leads to a seemingly unrelated murder in an upstate prison and a long ago murder of a trade union reformer.
No one else sees the connections Ambler is sure are there—not an unusual state of affairs for Ambler. But with the city’s law enforcement establishment determined to stop his investigation, the inquisitive and intrepid librarian faces challenges that may put his very life at risk.
*****
Now, you’re ready to read Wagner’s piece. https://bit.ly/2gRv4RR
And, if you missed Con Lehane’s own piece, he filled in on Sept. 29 when I was on vacation. He wrote about his summer reading. You can still catch it on the blog. https://bit.ly/2zmRFwm
