A Double LIfe

MURDER OFF THE PAGE
A 42nd Street Library Mystery # 3
Con Lehane
Minotaur Books
November 19,2019



The appearance of a beautiful young woman at Raymond Ambler's Crime Reading Room raises questions in the minds of both Raymond and his colleague, Adele. Her name is Shannon Darling, and she is researching the recently donated papers of a once-popular mystery writer. It's clear that this young woman has never done any research before and is entirely ignorant of the usual procedures. Their questions only increase when they encounter her in their local watering-hole. Shannon Darling is acting flirty with every man in the place, and as she continues to drink, she becomes more inappropriate in her behavior. Their friend, bartender, and confidant, Brian McNulty hands off the bar and escorts her to her hotel room. It's clear to all that McNulty has a prior connection to Shannon. Two murders later, Brian is on the run and a suspect in both killings. It turns out that Shannon Darling is actually Dr. Sandra Dean, a dermatologist living in Connecticut, and Dr.Dean has been leading a double life. Raymond's sleuthing skills will all be needed if McNulty is to be cleared.

The 42nd Street Library Series is a good example of a character-driven mystery, which is my preferred type. In the case of this book, I found all the character extras a little tedious and that they detracted somewhat from the narrative flow. For all his skills, Raymond is a bit slow in catching on to relationship dynamics, especially with Adele. He does try though with his grandson Johnny, who we met in the first book of the series. Murder Off the Page. I enjoyed this third book but thought it fell short of the first two in the series. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur for an advance copy. The opinions are my own.

RATING- 3 STARS