Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The manuscript room of Manhattan's 42nd Street library is only one of the danger zones when the library's crime fiction curator once again finds the stories he deals with professionally bleeding over into his private life.Raymond Ambler thinks his biggest headaches are curating an upcoming event celebrating 150 years of New York mystery and continuing to battle wealthy Lisa Young for custody of Johnny, the grandson they share to the exclusion of any other mutual ties. More acute problems arrive on the heels of what should be good news: novelist Paul Higgins' offer to donate his papers to the 42nd Street branch. Since Higgins served for more than 30 years on the NYPD Intelligence unit before retiring to write thrillers, the cache of material is potentially red-hot, and it's no surprise when Higgins makes an embargo of some especially sensitive material a condition of the donation. The first surprise comes when Higgins changes his mind and hands the files over to Ambler (Murder at the 42nd Street Library, 2016) after snatching him from outside his favorite bar and driving him to a secluded spot; the second is when Leila Stone, a research assistant in the Manuscripts and Archives Division, is found dead in Ambler's office, the mystery reading room. After telling Ambler that he foolishly revealed the news of the donation to somebody he shouldn't have but refusing to tell him who, Higgins goes AWOL, leaving Ambler stuck in the middle between Higgins' shadowy former associates, a suspected terrorist whom Ambler's co-worker and friend Adele Morgan has taken under her wing, freelance security chief Brad Campbell and his minions, the Department of Homeland Security, and whoever killed Leila and is perfectly willing to kill again. More ambitious and more muddled than the series debut, this sequel depends less on evoking a sense of its iconic nexus and more on making you look behind you when you're not asking the leads, "You thought about looking for a less dangerous job than being a librarian?" Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Early in Lehane's intricate sequel to 2016's Murder at the 42nd Street Library, crime fiction librarian Ray Ambler meets writer and former undercover cop Paul Higgins, who's donating his papers to the NYPL. If Higgins has information related to the murder of union leader Richard Wright in Brooklyn in the 1980s, he's not telling Ray. Ray has an interest because a good friend of his has been imprisoned for years for killing Wright, but now claims he's innocent. Meanwhile, the discovery of the body of library research assistant Leila Stone in Ray's office leads to the arrest of Middle Eastern scholar Gobi Tabrizi, whose research Leila secretly examined. Ray and his fellow librarian and prospective girlfriend, Adele Morgan, believe that officials are casting Gobi as a convenient culprit. Ray's homicide detective friend, Mike Cosgrove, is later puzzled by high-level interference in the Leila investigation and heads off in pursuit of Higgins, who has disappeared. Lehane provides food for thought by comparing past FBI transgressions with present-day Homeland Security activities. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Librarian Raymond Ambler has nothing but trouble after Paul Higgins, a former policeman, donates his papers to the New York Public Library. A library colleague, Leila, is found murdered in Raymond's office, Higgins disappears, and a library patron, Gobi Tabrizi, is accused of the murder. Raymond and his friend Adele feel Tabrizi is being railroaded, and they try to help him. Raymond believes Leila's murder is connected with the long-ago murder of a union president and the ensuing cover-up, and he pursues that line of inquiry, while his friend, NYPD homicide detective Mike Cosgrove, is frozen out of the investigation by the feds. Complicating matters, Raymond is involved in a custody battle for his grandson with the boy's wealthy grandmother, and he must deal with his growing romantic feelings for Adele, who is quite a bit younger. Plot twists and multiple points of view add to a gritty, complex tale that weaves details of library work and references to crime novels throughout the story.--O'Brien, Sue Copyright 2017 Booklist

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

How does the 1980s shooting of a union leader link to the death of a research assistant and the disappearance of a scholar? Librarian Raymond Ambler is once again involved in a murder case (following Murder at the 42nd Street Library). Ambler's investigation is not made easier by his feelings for a coworker who is personally involved with a victim and a suspect. Multiple characters struggle with responsibility in this intense, thought-provoking story.-LH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.