Beware the Solitary Drinker [Paperback]

Cornelius Lehane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2008

Brian McNulty, veteran bartender at Oscar's on the Upper West Side, respects his customers' privacy. And their space. But when a tarnished but innocent young woman seduced by New York's bright lights and glitter is murdered and another battered innocent charged with killing her, he reluctantly begins his own investigation. Brian's commitment to the chase is given a boost with the arrival of the dead girl's sister, a young Massachusetts businesswoman, determined to uncover the killer. While she's put off by Brian's jaded attitude and offbeat lifestyle, she comes to rely upon his familiarity with the city's darker underside, including a cadre of neighborhood cronies. Politically leftist and a dedicated union man, Brian learns that when you dig into people's lives, rich or poor, you find things kept hidden for good reason. By stirring up these ghosts, you change the shape of the landscape and put your friends, your customers, and yourself in harm's way. This debut novel is perfectly wrapped in original art by Fritz Scholder. Con Lehane grew up in the suburbs of New York City and currently writes from just outside of Washington, DC, where he lives with his wife and two sons. Once a college professor, union organizer, and bartender, Lehane is now an editor at the National Education Association. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction writing from Columbia University School of the Arts. www.conlehane.com

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The characters who inhabit Oscar's bar on New York's Upper West Side are serious drinkers with more than their share of quirks, shames, secrets and strengths. In this strong debut novel, Lehane exhibits a sensitive empathy for those who find solace in drink and drugs and the ambience at Oscar's, where one can be solitary but not alone. Mostly older, mostly men, Oscar's patrons are captivated by Angelina, an alluring, available young woman, who begins to frequent their bar. Even bartender Brian McNulty, a participant/observer-presiding, absorbing, but never probing-is drawn into her orbit. But when the beautiful, troubled Angelina is murdered and Brian's customers and friends become suspects, he reluctantly abandons his bartender's code: "I enter my friend's house deaf; I leave dumb." Instead, prodded by the arrival of Angelina's sister, Janet, from their hometown of Springfield, Mass., Brian begins to learn more than he wants about Angelina's past. Brian is a wonderfully complex character, and Lehane reveals him to the reader with exquisite skill. Brian takes shape, developing substance and form, just as his stumbling investigation does. Set in 1983 but timeless in its depiction of men and women struggling to cope with whatever demons beset them, Lehane's assured debut merits a warm welcome from readers who prize originality and insight.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

At his New York apartment, bartender Brian McNulty shelters Angelina, a young woman he meets at work. They don't have sex but become good friends, despite her subsequent frequent changes of lovers. Angelina enlivens his bar, befriending everyone until she's found murdered in the park. Her sister then arrives, looking for the murderer and asking for Brian's help. The resultant sleuthing uncovers more than a few surprises about Angelina's life, including experiences with women and porn. Brian's bar-focused outlook (the author was a former bartender), the bar "family," and an abundance of booze, drugs, and sex make for colorful reading. For larger collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 233 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (May 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590580206
• ISBN-13: 978-1590580202
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,370,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Con Lehane is a mystery writer, living outside Washington, DC. He's published three books featuring New York City bartender Brian McNulty. You can read reviews of them on his web site www.conlehane.com/reviews.html. He has just completed (writing the last few chapters at the Dairy Hollow Writers' Colony) a new mystery, featuring New York City librarian Raymond Ambler (who happens to be a friend of the aforementioned McNulty) that he hopes is the beginning of a new series. Over the years, he has worked as a college professor, a union organizer, a labor journalist, and has tended bar at two-dozen or so drinking establishments.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cynical but with hope shining through--very nice, April 23, 2003

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Beware the Solitary Drinker (Hardcover)

Bartender Brian McNulty lives in a strange New York world populated by drunks, unemployed actors, and ex-communists still searching for the revolution. When beautiful young Angelina walks into his bar, he is instantly smitten--as is every other man in the bar. Angelina is troubled and sexually inappropriate (with everyone but Brian, it seems). But that doesn't make her murder any easier to take. When Angelina's sister comes into town, she convinces Brian to help her investigate.

The investigation turns into a tour of Brian's bizarre world. Everyone has a secret that they won't share with the cops, or even with their bartender. Worse, Brian's investigation seems to make things worse. Everyone is threatened by Brian, even if they aren't the ones who actually committed this particular murder.

Author Cornelius Lehane delivers a thoughtful and probing look into a strange society. Brian's leftist views are carefully modulated--he knows that some of them are silly but they are part of his upbringing and self-concept. His relationship with Kevin, his son, develops a little late but adds emotional resonance to the story.

BEWARE THE SOLITARY DRINKER will appeal to fans of film noire. It combines cynicism with just a hint of a hopeful world view. I found this a charming story by a first-time author. Check it out.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sunny version of noir, September 4, 2010

By 

TChris (Tzer Island) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beware the Solitary Drinker (Paperback)

Bartender Brian McNulty is an interesting character, albeit lacking in pizzazz. The novel suggests that he drinks too much and he regularly ingests cocaine, but it doesn't seem to affect his life; he carries some guilt about his relationship with his son but the relationship is actually quite good; he comes off as a loner but the story makes clear that he has a healthy number of friends, even if some of them are a bit unsavory. McNulty is both an actor and a leftist but neither of those facts add significant depth to his character. The best thing about McNulty is his skill as a bartender, and one of the best things about the novel is Lehane's description of McNulty's bartending technique (Lehane having been a bartender himself, he knows whereof he writes).

Ultimately, this is a murder mystery with a bartender playing the role of detective/investigator. McNulty's motivation to continue poking into the murder of his friend and customer Angelina is unclear, particularly given his ambivalent relationship with Angelina's sister and the evident risk involved, but the "whodunit" plot gives Lehane the opportunity to unveil a colorful assortment of barflies, any of whom could be the potential murderer. They make the story work. Lehane brings the mystery to a credible resolution, with a nicely written action scene at the end. Mystery fans should enjoy this novel, although fans of noir should know that the darkness in the story is balanced by an abundance of sunshine.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Grim Side of New York, March 28, 2005

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beware the Solitary Drinker (Hardcover)

In Con Lehane's debut novel, we are introduced to the dingy late-night bar scene of New York City. To be more specific, a dive named Oscar's and the bartender who works there, Brian McNulty.

A young woman becomes a regular fixture at Oscar's and in a very short time gets to know the assorted regular assortment of winos and barflies who are permanent fixture in the place. An incredibly complicated and troubled woman she reveals a hard, depressing past and gravitates straight to McNulty, merely seeking friendship, something he is only too happy to provide.

When the woman is murdered, McNulty and the rest of the Oscar regulars are stunned but not overly surprised. She had a tendency to sleep with anyone and everyone, quite often with men who could be considered dangerous. More than a few of these men drink at Oscar's.

Given that McNulty was the closest friend she had when the woman died, he takes on the task of trying to track down her killer. He has a whole bar full of suspects and realizes that even though he sees them every night, he doesn't truly know these people. Thus begins the slow process of working out who the murderer is.

This is a grim story told from the perspective of Brian McNulty and set in the desperate late night hours. Fuelled by alcohol and cocaine, McNulty takes greater and greater risks as he homes in on the killer and puts himself and those close to him in danger. It's a methodical mystery, McNulty is an everyday guy just trying to get by and the world he inhabits is a dangerous place. Excellent fair for lovers of noir.