Con Lehane Books In Order

Publication Order of Brian McNulty Books

Publication Order of 42nd Street Library Mystery Books

Con Lehane is the pen name of Cornelius Lehane. He is an American author that grew up in New York City in the suburbs. He currently writes from where he resides, just outside of the nation’s capital in Washington D.C.

He currently lives outside of D.C. with his lovely wife and his two sons. A former college professor, bartender, and union organizer, Con Lehane is the official writing name he uses when penning books. He has an M.F.A. degree in fiction writing from the school the Columbia University School of the Arts. He is also currently an editor for the National Education Association.

He is the writer of the Bartender Brian McNulty mystery series. The first novel in the series was published in 2002, Beware the Solitary Drinker. It was followed by the 2005 novel, What Goes Around Comes Around. The third novel in the series was published in 2007 and is called Death at the Old Hotel. He is also the author of the 42nd Street Library Mystery series, consisting of two novels published in 2016 and 2017.

The main character in Beware the Solitary Drinker is the tough bartender Brian McNulty. He works at Oscar’s located on the upper west side in New York, and he has been slinging drinks to patrons there for a long time. He’s not naturally a nosy guy, and he just takes the orders, serves the drinks, and respects the privacy of his customers and their right to drink with friends or alone. Mostly, Brian just lets them have their space and enjoy their cocktails or beers without being bothered.

He figures that it’s the right of the people who walk into a bar to have a safe space where they can unwind from the day or grab a drink in the middle of it– who is he to judge? But when an unusual customer enters his space, he considers changing the rules because something very drastic has happened. An innocent young woman who came to the bright lights of New York to find herself is killed. And yet another one of his customers is charged with being the murderer.

Brian doesn’t usually get involved, but something about this makes him sit up and notice. For one thing, he doesn’t think that the girl charged with the murder is the one who killed the girl. Brian isn’t sure he should do it, but he starts an investigation of his own to track down who did it. However, when it comes to his drive for tracking down the person who did this, the honest bartender will not be stopped.

The young girl from Massachusetts has a sister that arrives into town, who is a young woman working in business from Massachusetts. She is the one who is just as intent on figuring out who murdered her sister as Brian is, and it’s nice to have some shared manpower on the case. The only thing that they currently care about is figuring out who murdered the girl and why.

The sister is a firecracker who at first is not that enamored with his unusual lifestyle and jaded outlook. But she gradually becomes to rely on him and trust him more and more as they journey into the belly of the beast, the dark side of Manhattan. It is most likely there where they are going to find the answers they are searching for, and Brian has a cavalcade of friends and people to call upon that he has known in the neighborhood for years.

The suspects that he hears the word of all turn out to be regulars at his bar. They are all people who have more to hide than the other, and the list of the motley crew gets shadier as you go down it. The people in question are all suspicious in their own unique ways. Brian is a little bit to the left politically and a union man, but even he is not prepared for the darkness he is about to encounter.

It turns out that things that are hidden are hidden for a reason. This bartender is starting to learn that it doesn’t matter how much money or influence or power you have, or lack thereof— when things are buried and skeletons are put in the closet, it’s done for a reason. The ghosts of the past of these people are going to influence a lot of lives, and they would prefer that their secrets stay put where they are.

The ghosts of the past are not far behind, and Brian and the murdered girl’s sister are determined to get to the bottom of what happened. They must get justice for a girl who had her share of troubles but didn’t deserve to be killed. Brian just wants to find who did it and stop them before they kill again, but is it he and his new found friend who is really in danger? You have to check out all of the action for yourself in this gripping first novel in the series from author Con Lehane, so pick up a copy to see what happens.

The sequel to this series is a novel called What Goes Around Comes Around. The reader is once again plopped into the world of good guy bartender Brian, who is apparently something of an amateur crime detective. He is helped a little by his father and son. Brian is working to keep the good people of New York happy with a steady supply of their favorite drink and a little bit of professional courtesy, but he also wants to satisfy his itch for solving crimes in the city that never sleeps.

In between filling martinis and serving beer, Brian is filling in one night for a friend at a combination saloon and eatery. Tending bar at The Ocean Club, McNulty is surprised when a crime jumps right into his lap (not literally). A dead body in the East River? Brian is definitely on the case right from the start, and who turns out to be behind it may surprise you. With quirky characters and a murder underfoot, to see what happens you’ve got to check out this book for yourself!