Murder Off the Page: A 42nd Street Library Mystery

Lehane’s complicated third 42nd Street Library mystery (after 2017’s Murder in the Manuscript Room) opens with Raymond Ambler, curator of the Manhattan library’s crime fiction collection, helping Shannon Darling research the personal papers of mystery writer Jayne Galloway. Shannon seems like a sad and vulnerable woman, so Ray is taken aback when she disappears with Ray’s bartender and sometime actor friend, Brian McNulty (the star of Lehane’s other series), after a man is found dead in her hotel room. When Shannon herself is murdered, Brian becomes the prime suspect in both deaths. Determined to help clear Brian, Ray and his fellow librarian and secret love Adele Morgan discover that Shannon was actually Sandra Dean, mother to a six-year-old daughter and wife of a wealthy and influential husband. Ray’s worries and personal problems muddle the plot rather than add depth to the story. The atmospheric setting compensates in part. Those who love New York City and libraries will be rewarded. [em]Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (Nov.) [/em]