Raymond Ambler first appeared in Murder at the 42nd Street Library and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Raymond.

What is your name?
Raymond Ambler

How old are you?
For reasons I prefer to keep to myself, I keep this somewhat nebulous; Let’s say I’ m in my fifties . . .

What is your profession?
Loosely, I’m a librarian; to be accurate, I’m a curator (of the crime fiction special collection at the main branch of the New York Public Library)—the 42nd Street Library.

Do you have a significant other?
It’s complicated.

What is her name and profession?
I have a close friend, Adele Morgan, a librarian.

Any children?
I have a grown son with my -ex wife.

Do you have any sibling(s)?
No

Do your parents live near you?
My parents are deceased.

Who is your best friend?
The aforementioned Adele Morgan, Mike Cosgrove, a NYPD homicide detective, Brian McNulty, a bartender

Cats, dogs or other pets?
A large and growing larger dog-of-uncertain-origins lives with me and my grandson.

What town do you live in?
The Big Apple

House or building complex? Own or Rent?
Rent-stabilized apartment in Murray Hill.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
It’s a New York City apartment so not many spots to choose from.

Favorite meal? Favorite dessert?
Any dinner with Adele; same.

Favorite hobby?
Walking in the city; watching Yankees or Knicks with my grandson on TV, at the Garden or Yankee Stadium.

Favorite color?
Brown

Favorite author?
Dozens . .. for now, Hammett, Chandler, Ross Macdonald . . . and of course, Nelson Algren.

Favorite vacation spot?
New York City

Favorite sports team?
See above: Yankees, Knicks (God help us)

Movies or Broadway?
B’way

Are you a morning or a night person?
Night

Amateur sleuth or professional?
I like to think professional. My friend, Mike Cosgrove would say amateur.

Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
(again, see above) Adele Morgan, Mike Cosgrove, Brian McNulty

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
I spend my days among books and manuscripts in one of the greatest libraries in the world in the greatest city in the world. Too often, an unspeakable crime—a murder off the page, rather than on the page of a book in my crime fiction collection—takes me out into the real world to confront the hard cruel facts of life.

You can read more about Raymond in Murder Off the Page, the third book in the “42nd Street Library” traditional mystery series, released November 19, 2019.

A note from bartender Brian McNulty, Raymond Ambler’s friend, confidant, and sometimes adviser, sets the librarian sleuth off on a murder investigation, one that he pursues reluctantly until a second murder upends the world as he knows it. The second victim is a lady friend of McNulty’s―and the prime suspect is McNulty himself.

As Ambler pursues his investigation, he discovers that the murdered woman had a double life. Her intermittent visits to the city―a whirlwind of reckless drinking and illicit liaisons with men she met in the cocktail lounges―had their counterpart in suburban Fairfield County Connecticut where, as Dr. Sandra Dean, she practiced dermatology and lived in a gated community with a doting husband and a young daughter.

While Ambler looks into the past of Dr. Sandra Dean to understand the murder of Shannon Darling in the present, NYPD homicide detective Mike Cosgrove investigates the men in Shannon Darling’s life. She might have been murdered because she frustrated the wrong man. It could have been a jealous wife. In fact, any number of people might have murdered Shannon Darling. Or, as Ambler suspects, did someone murder Dr. Sandra Dean?

Yet, no matter which way he turns, McNulty emerges as a suspect. Ambler’s dilemma seems insurmountable: Should he keep searching for the truth behind the murders if the deeper he probes, the more evidence he finds that points to the morally rumpled bartender as a murderer?

Purchase Link
# # # # # # # # # # #

About the author
Con Lehane is the author of six mystery novels. The latest is Murder Off the Page, the third in The 42nd Street Library Mystery series (November 2019). He’s had stories in Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen mystery magazines, as well as a few literary magazines, and is the author of the Brian McNulty bartender mysteries. He lives in Washington, DC and writes with an exile’s longing about New York City.

To learn more about Con, visit his website at conlehane.com.

All comments are welcomed.