Customer Reviews

Death at the Old Hotel: A Bartender Brian McNulty Mystery (Bartender Brian McNulty Mysteries)

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DEATH AT THE OLD HOTEL is the third book in the Brian McNulty series. Brian is a bartender at the Savoy Hotel in New York City in the early 1990's. The workers at the hotel are between a rock and a hard place - the hotel is a dumping ground for union malcontents who have had conflicts with the union management, but who put up with the low pay and difficult working conditions because they need to keep their jobs. But when the corruption at the hotel becomes obvious and the enforcers and the management start to whittle down their numbers, the hotel staff takes action and goes on strike. And Brian finds himself in charge of the striking staff.

The strikers' solidarity is jeopardized by both conflicts amongst themselves and by two murders. Everyone on the picket line has a lot to lose - they are risking their jobs, deportation, and accusations of murder are in the air. Brian is feeling the pressure from them, the union, the police, and from his labor-organizer father. At some point, Brian realizes that this strike isn't going to end well for everyone and that all he can do is find the best solution for himself and the bulk of his fellow workers.

In THE OLD HOTEL, Lehane has drawn on his previous experience as both a bartender and a union organizer to bring detail and a fantastic realism to this book. The situation is a tough one and there is an undercurrent of danger that colors all the actions of the characters, who alternate between determined, scrappy, and desperate.

Lehane's writing is wonderful and there isn't a character or situation that rings false. Because the characters seem so real, the risks also seem real and I was riveted, waiting to see how Brian would extricate himself and his fellows from jeopardy. And Lehane stays true to life to the end, which, like real life, isn't happy for everyone.

Favorite character? Brian himself. Did I guess it? No - and my single complaint about this book would be that we don't get the crucial piece if information until right near the end. Will I read another? Yes.

The protagonist in the story is Brian McNulty, a bartender at a West Side Hotel in New York. His Union goes on strike and shortly thereafter the bodies start to pile up. The hotel manager is murdered and later an abusive Cop and Husband of a beautiful waitress at the Hotel is killed. McNulty and his friend Barney, An IRA veteran from Ireland find themselves in the middle of solving the crimes, while dealing with such personal issues as Barney's love for the recently widowed waitress, or perhaps Brian's love for her.

I found the story line a bit overloaded with peripheral issues such as the divorced Brian's teen age son and ex wife, and it was difficult for me to get really interested in any of the characters.

The story is OK for a day at the beach.

Brian McNulty is New York bartender who always seems to get into the middle of a murder intrigue. He's also the son of a Communist union man as well as the father of a teenaged son who now lives with Brian's ex-wife. Brian, also a labor organizer, arranges a strike at the hotel in which he works after a waitress was fired from her job. Two deaths occur soon afterward, and Brian goes about trying to figure out what happened so that neither of the murders are pinned on him.

This is the second book about Brian McNulty that I've read and enjoyed. It's a bit hard for me because I'm not a "mystery" reader, and I read this book only because it had been given to me by Con Lehane, a local author. I'm happy to report that I found this book a fun read. Although I'm not great about following convoluted plots, I gave it a go and happily didn't have to remember too many characters. I remembered McNulty's "Pop" (his dad) and Kevin (his son) from a previous book. McNulty is a character who is always bumbling around and coming to wrong conclusions. That was okay because he kept me smiling with his wry sense of humor and great one-liners while he tried to decipher the murderer's identity. Beside, I also liked the cat who kept coming and going in and out of McNulty's window.

It's the Christmas season in the early 1990s, and bartender Brian McNulty's working at the shabby New York Savoy Hotel. Barman Barney Saunders (who is also a vocal member of the union) suspects James MacAlister, the Savoy's new manager, of corruption. His believes that some shenanigans are going on between organized crime and union officials.

The holiday festivities are marred by the murders of James MacAlister, the Savoy's new manager and cop Dennis Tierney, who was the insanely jealous husband of the Savoy's waitress, Betsy Tierney. Barney looks good for the murder and Brian McNulty enters the fray with his own suspicions about the guilty person. If he doesn't solve the crime, Barney just might `go down' for the dastardly deed.

This is my first Con Lehane mystery and it won't be the last. It's a fast-paced read. Lehane is able to draw in the reader and impart the feeling of an early twentieth century gangster novel even though it was placed in 1990s. I wanted `guys' to jump on car running boards and to see Elliot Ness make an appearance. The ambiance is wonderful and gives the novel the necessary unique flavor to help it stand out in a crowded genre.

Armchair Interview says: Pick up Death at the Old Hotel and then check out What Goes Around Comes Around and Beware the Solitary Drinker.

In the early 90s, New York bartender Brian McNulty is exiled to work at the dilapidated Savoy Hotel, west of eighth on forty-eighth. The run down establishment is filled because the city is jammed with the Christmas visitors. Brian's peer union organizer Barney Saunders believes the hotel's manager James MacAlister is on the take most likely from the connection between big union and the mob. MacAlister's actions outrage his staff, which leads to a protest strike that turns violent. On the picket lines married waitress Betsy Tierney offers solace to an already injured Barney; her irate spouse Dennis, one of New York's finest attacks him for encouraging his wife to picket, but Brian intercedes.

That same night someone murders MacAlister and Tierney. The police believe Barney killed the pair with Betsy being his femme fatale. Brian knows his friend would not commit cold blooded murder so he investigates working the mean streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn where unions and organized crime meet.

Con Lehane provides a fabulous look at criminal side of the city in which big union, nig management, big government and big mob understand the rules of engagement is WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND. Brian is at his best as he struggles to prove a union mid level official is the culprit while the Men in Blue refuse to look anywhere except at Barney as a cop killer. Readers will enjoy his somewhat cynical yet optimistic efforts as his personal philosophy is anything goes just BEWARE THE SOLITARY DRINKER.

Harriet Klausner