Murder in the Manuscript Room by Con Lehane

Murder in the Manuscript Room

by Con Lehane

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 him is Adele's growing interest in a darkly handsome Islamic scholar. 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.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

4 of 5 stars

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I love libraries. I love everything from the atmosphere to the endless exciting possibilities they represent to the unique personality of almost every library whose threshold I've crossed. I even love the smell of libraries.
Personally I'm also predisposed to liking mysteries and thrillers, so, a mystery/thriller in a library? Yes, please!

This is the second book in the 42nd Street library mystery series. I read the book without having read any of the author's other books. This one didn't suffer in my estimation for having been read as a standalone.
The characters are well written, with well thought out motivations and, in some cases, agendas. There's a lot going on: terrorist fanatics, murder, espionage, prison politics, murky dealings, kidnapping and long ago history tied to politics and the murder of a labor union boss for which the wrong man was imprisoned. Despite so many subplots, the author handled the complex storyline well, and I never felt lost or confused.

The main protagonist isn't young, tough or wisecracking. He's a mild mannered librarian with a melancholy background, entangled in a custody battle over his grandson. I loved that he wasn't a superhero.

One of the secondary characters in this book (a bartender!) is the protagonist in his own series of 3 books, making this book a tie-in/crossover. Again, I don't think it suffered for my not having read the other books, an oversight I intend to remedy soon.

It's clear that the author is also a bibliophile and as a bonus this book is a rich source of book-hunting gems for further reading because of the classic mystery thriller name dropping. It inspired me to revisit Dashiell Hammet, Vera Caspary, and to look up Chester Himes. I like it when my reading list leads me to more books!

Enjoyed this one very much and I fully intend to read the other books in the related series.

Four stars




Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 August, 2017: Finished reading
  • 5 August, 2017: Reviewed