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.

Unfortunately this just wasn't for me. I have read other Lehane books with the bartender as a main character but this was my first in this series. It moved too slowly and failed to catch my interest.

What could be better to wile away the hours of a trip spanning almost the length of Mississippi highway than a good murder mystery? I’d saved Murder in the Manuscript Room by Con Lehane for this occasion.

In good crime novel tradition, amateur sleuth Raymond Ambler, who is NYC’s 42nd Street Library’s curator of crime fiction, sets out to solve the murder of a young woman who may or may not have been the person she claimed to be. Multiple suspects turn up, all with questionable motives for the crime. Could it be the young Islamic scholar doing research in the library, an ex-husband, or a member of a corrupt police department? Is the crime related to another in the upstate prison or maybe to a long-ago murder of a union reformer? Winding through this plot is Ambler’s growing relationship with Adele Morgan, a custody battle for his grandson, and redemption help for the grandson’s babysitter caught with drugs. Adele’s friendship with the murder victim makes her an avid partner in the search for her killer. Her fondness for the grandson makes her a willing ally in the custody fight and enhances her relationship to Raymond.

This book is second in a series and although I had not read the first, enough pertinent items from it were included so that I did not feel lost, but I think not so many that readers of the first would feel bored. It also wrapped up and closure while hinting at another mystery to come.

The book accomplished its purpose as I lost myself in the streets of New York City while the miles flew by to North Mississippi. It brought no new insights on life nor did it teach any grand lessons, but it took away my question of “Are we there yet?”

I give this book 4 out of 5 enjoyable stars! When I picked out this title on NetGalley I didn’t realize it was the second one in the series and felt I just missed out on a tad but overall this was an enjoyable read. I thought the characterization in this book was highly entertaining and they dealt with realistic life issues. I loved the idea of the library setting. I love books that are set in libraries or bookshops! This was a complex mystery that was fun to fall into. I also enjoyed how this book had an underlying message about courage. I wish I would have read the first in the series first, but overall I liked this book!

Murder in the Manuscript Room has more twists and turns than a Slinky. In an interesting cerebral librarian meets hard-boiled cops story, we get to see a seamy side of New York City.

Murder in the Manuscript Room is the second book in A 42nd Street Library Mystery series by Con Lehane. I had not read the first book in the series and found that Murder in the Manuscript Room can easily be read as a stand alone.

I love the setting of the 42nd street library in New York City. While I have not been inside yet as I find myself in NYC infrequently, I have seen the outside and was very impressed.

Murder in the Manuscript Room is a well written and deeply layered book. There is a lot going on...in the past and the present. As each new layer is exposed it is impossible to put this book down.

There are great characters particularly Raymond Ambler, the library's curator of crime fiction, who is a librarian detective. He has a lot going on his life! I found the relationships in this book to be very realistic and authentic.

I really enjoyed Murder in the Manuscript Room. Highly recommend.

This far exceeded my expectations. I had not heard of the 42nd St mystery series, but that name has immediate appeal for me. I expected a cozy mystery that I might quickly forget when I finished, but that is not at all what I found. What appealed to me in the first place, which is that it is set in the library on 42nd Street, is not at the forefront, because there are so many different mysteries going on at the same time. What made this book so enjoyable was that all of the main characters are ones you can relate to, and you are immediately on their side. I didn't have that awkward period of starting a book and having to work to get into it that I usually have; I was interested right away. One supporting character I particularly enjoy is the bartender, McNulty. I'm definitely interested in reading more of this series.

Raymond Ambler, the curator of New York City’s 42nd Street Library, teams up with homicide detective Mike Cosgrove to solve the murder of a young woman found murdered in the library. Ambler is convinced the death has connections to seemingly unrelated murders and won’t give up until he helps get justice for the murder victim.

This book is the second in this series, but the first I’ve read. I was able to quickly catch-up and enjoy the book even though I missed the first one. The mystery is well-written and with a complex plot and complicated characters, sometimes to the point of being a little confusing to follow. However, I enjoyed the unique setting and the team of a library curator and a detective working together to solve the crime. The book kept my interest from beginning to end and is an intelligent mystery, tackling relevant issues, that fans of Sara Paretsky or Betty Webb will enjoy.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Minotaur books. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting and unusual mystery with unique characters and a complicated plot. The setting is the 80's and yet I found myself thinking of it as taking place in much older times. I kept picturing people like Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Cagney - - it has that kind of a feeling to it to me. It's an entertaining read!

The summary of the book sounded very interesting. Raymond Ambler is the archivist for the crime fiction collection at the 42nd Street branch of the New York Public Library. He also likes to get involved in solving murder crimes. Raymond, unknowingly, gets caught up in a murder of a union representative of truckers from the 1980s when a retired detective turned crime novelist, Paul Higgins, asks to donate his notes and police files he has collected over the years to the library. A couple days after leaving the boxes with Ambler at the library, a fellow librarian is found dead. As the story unfolds, the librarian is identified as an undercover cop and ex-wife of Paul Higgins.
This was more of a hard-boiled police mystery than I expected. Not quite my cup of tea so the rating likely reflects this. The plot is well devised but there are almost too many characters with multiple side stories. The novel does wrap the storylines up nicely at the end but the culprit behind the murders is not a surprise.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher, Minotaur, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was looking forward to reading this book, the main reason is the place where the murder took place - New York Public Library! This is a second book of the "A 42nd Street Library Mystery". I haven't read the first part.

The beginning of the story takes place in the 80s, with the murder of Richard Wright, a union representative who uncovered a contract between NY gangs and NYPD officials. An innocent man, Devon, is sent to jail. Years later he contacts his childhood friend, Raymond Ambler, and asks him to look into the case.

Ray Ambler, a librarian, is in charge of a new exhibit at takes place at New York Public Library - A Century-and-a-Half of Murder and Mystery in New York City. He is being introduced to Paul Higgins, retired detective and a murder mystery book writer. Paul "donates" to the exhibion his notes and some police files that he has been collecting and used as a material for his books. Ray questions Paul regarding the documents and Devon's case, however, Higgins denies having any knowledge or info on Devon/Wright case. Days later Paul's ex-wife Laila, a librarian and undercover cop, is found dead in Raymond's office. Godi, an Islamic scholar whom Laila was investigating is a suspect in the murder.

Mike Cosgrove, an NYPD retired cop and a friend of both Ambler and Higgins, is looking into the case. It seems that all the roads lead him to Richard Wright's murder back in the 80s. Coincidence? Mike doesn't think so. He is sure that Godi is framed for Laila's murder and Paul has to reasons to go after his ex-wife. Days later and both murders of Devon and Paul are confirming Mike's suspicions. He takes the investigation into his own hands and takes down NYPD Intelligence Department and the man behind it all - Bradley Cooper.

The idea of the book is very catching. In my opinion, there are too many characters involved, way too much inside drama that didn't have much to do with the actual case. Bradley Cooper was portraited as a dirty cop since the first pages, so I expected him to be behind the murders by the end of the book. I still do not understand what exactly Godi was researching in the library, why it was important, and why Laila was investigating him. And who exactly shot Richard Wright?! I wish the story included Cooper's trial and how it actually ended.

As I said, I like the idea of the book, I just don't feel it was completed, it has a few loose ends, and I wish it had more reasons to be tied to the Library.

Murder in the Manuscript Room kept me guessing. It tells a fast-paced story of murder, intrigue and corruption in New York City. The protagonist is a librarian with personal problems and a reluctance to commit to a relationship who persists in solving a murder in his own work domain. Plot is good, action believable, and subject topical.
I enjoyed it and recommend it to those who enjoy contemporary, amateur sleuths.

Libraries are usually quiet places to read or discover books, not bodies. When librarian Raymond Ambler discovers a body in his office, he wonders if it is tied to his acceptance of papers from a former police intelligence officer. What is in those papers that needs to be restricted? His quest to discover what caused the murder takes him down a rabbit hole of intrigue and cold cases.

Raymond Ambler, is a grandfather, a librarian who specializes in detective stories and murder and he also investigates where his curiosity leads him.

His grandson Johnny is the apple of his eye. Adele, his sort of, kind of lady friend is someone he cares for deeply. He has one good friend who is a cop, Mike Cosgrove and another good friend who is a bartender, McNulty.

Each of these people fill his life when he is not absorbed by his work. He loves what he does at the library. And the work collecting books about detectives and murder and mayhem has created an exhibition which is about to begin.

There is a murder in Ray's library room. A body is found stuffed on the shelves. But, it is not simply a murder. It involves the present and the past. Ray is led to investigate what happened years ago and how it is connected to another recent murder. This time, the victim is someone who grew up with Ray. The man ended up in prison for a murder he did not commit. And he asked for Ray's help.

This story keeps the reader involved along with the investigation. Mike has been pushed into investigating but he is not happy with the way things are being run. McNulty's family history may help Ray find someone who may have all the answers or maybe not. Adele travels all the way to Texas to attend a funeral and ask many questions.

I really enjoyed the mystery. The writing is very good. But, I was made crazy by the way one sentence ended and the next sentence was a completely different scene and a different time. It was jarring and it made me lose rhythm.

At least putting some white space in to allow the reader to understand about moving to a new scene would have helped.

The plot is one which keeps everyone guessing. The characters are mostly people who hold the reader's interest. Some of the characters are villains. Some of the characters are simply not very bright. Or that is the impression they give.

I liked this book

I received the book from the publisher through NetGalley. I am voluntarily writing this review and all opinions are my own.

After reading Murder in the Manuscript Room I now must find the previous entry in this two book series. How did I miss it? Ray Ambler is the crime fiction curator of the New York City library and is able to see connections that most people would miss. When a library employee is murdered and it is discovered that she is not who she claimed to be, Ambler starts working on making connections between a cold case and some all too current events. I was hooked by the setting and by Ambler himself, a man trying to juggle a complicated personal life and an equally complicated work life. The story moved along at a good pace and the mystery held together well. Once I go back and read the earlier entry, I will be ready to read the next installment.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Con Lehane, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Returning to the majestic building of the 42 Street Library in New York City, Con Lehane continues the adventures of Crime Fiction librarian Raymond Ambler. In this story, Ambler finds himself in the middle of quite the conundrum. Tasked with preparing a display of crime fiction over the past century and a half, Ambler must come up with a collection that taps into all aspects of crime. In waltzes a former cop and aspiring author, Paul Higgins, who wishes to donate his private papers to the cause, but seeks a promise that they will not be shared with anyone. Ambler holds them in trust, but it is only then that the real trouble starts. Working alongside Adele Morgan has helped foster a close friendship, which may have more to it. However, when a murder occurs within Ambler’s own office, Adele’s closeness to the victim proves more an impediment than help. Leila Stone seems to have been working at the library under an assumed name and on a mission. As NYPD Homicide begin their investigation into the Stone murder, they are shoved aside when the Intelligence Division takes control of the case and quickly snatches up a suspect. Adele’s ongoing interest in this man, an Islamic scholar, leaves Ambler concerned that she might be shielding the truth out of a sense of romantic desire. Meanwhile, Ambler is trying to process having his grandson living with him while in a custody battle with the boy’s maternal grandmother. Seeking to uncover the rationale for this murder and if it might have ties to a case three decades in the past takes a back burner, as Ambler attempts to keep his personal life from falling apart. There seems to be more to every story in his life, but Ambler can find neither index nor cliff notes in an attempt to set it straight. Lehane offers some interesting sleuthing insight in this piece that meanders as much as this summary review. Possibly of interest to those who like a little mystery with the protagonist’s angst-filled journey.

I must congratulate Con Lehane for putting together the foundation of what looks to be a highly intriguing and captivating novel. This is the second in the series and I enjoyed the debut novel, though this piece seemed to lack a strong connection to the core essentials. The characters develop well, for the most part, particularly Raymond Ambler and Adele Morgan, though outside of their emotional tug-of-war, I found a number of the other characters out of sync with the story arc. Their personalities were present, the backstories seemed to fit, but the delivery seemed less than what I might have hoped to see. It was as though Lehane let his characters scurry around like ants and used the narrative to zoom in and offer some commentary before panning out and looking elsewhere. The story had the potential to be strong and well grounded, but meandered too much to really connect for me. Surely the present and past murders that are developed throughout have something that ties them, for that is the flavour that the narrative offers. However, nothing seemed to bring it all together smoothly for me. While some might say it is petty, I felt that Lehane did not use gaps in time effectively. Where some authors might use a set of asterisks or symbols to denote a delay in the narrative or even an empty line or two, Lehane seems to steamroll ahead two days between sentences. Yet, he does use the aforementioned ‘gap symbols’ on other occasions as well. This inconsistency left me wondering if the draft of the book was posted to the galley site before proofreaders or editors had done the job for which they are paid. I cannot be sure whether Lehane should be shamed on those who received payment for shoddy work. Either way, there is a glimmer of possibility here and I may return if a third novel surfaces, though I cannot promise to add it to my watchlist.

Kudos, Mr. Lehane for a valiant effort. The pieces may not have worked too well as a cohesive unit, but they were far from jagged and destructive.

Surprising mystery with unusual setting and unexpected twists that make for a satisfying read.

An employee of the New York City’s library is found murdered
It seems she is not the person she presented herself to be. Solving the case involves Raymond Ambler, the crime fiction curator at the library, a cast of his friends, family, and acquaintances, as well as the Intelligence Division of the NYPD, the investigation of the murder years ago of a trade union reformer, and perhaps some terrorists.

Despite all these characters, the story hangs together and the characters well developed. This is the second book in a series. Initially, some of the background was a little unclear. I do think reading the first book, though, would have helped in understanding the history of Ambler and his family.

It was a decent story that held my attention throughout.

I received an ARC from NetGalley to read and review. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you, Con Lehane, the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.

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. 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.

This was my first Lehane novel. The blurb had me hooked: what reader doesn't want to read about library murders? The plot had me until the very last page. I admire Lehane's plotting and character development. This fast-paced read was a delight, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.