Bartender Wanted

Gritty glamour in 1980s New York City doesn’t come cheap. To afford even her fifth-floor walkup, Rose Leary needs a gig.

Bartending at a neighborhood joint subsidizes her writing career, even if she does fill a dead woman’s platforms. Rose speculates about who killed her predecessor, but her novel’s looming deadline demands she dedicate all creativity to her fiction. When another bartender dies, Rose pictures her name scrawled at the top of the murderer’s hit list. Even sarcasm can’t shield her from this coming danger. Frightening phone calls and ominous gifts turn everyone she meets into a suspect. Dead flowers dirty her hallway, and her phone shrills menace. Terror invades her life and paralyzes her writing. Rose struggles to expose the killer in a desperate race to save herself and her work.

Set in the West Village restaurant and bar scene, Bartender Wanted resurrects a city where fishmongers and greengrocers fill the stores now colonized by designers, and brawny butchers still work in the Meatpacking District. Written with wit, intelligence, and a distinctive style, the Rose Leary series creates a signature cocktail so intoxicating it keeps readers coming back for more. Bartender Wanted introduces the Rose Leary murder mystery series, where tales of chilling suspense and cold-blooded murder are spiked with generous dashes of humor.

About the Author

Maureen Anne Jennings has worn the hats of a journalist, copywriter, editor, publishing consultant, media manager, book festival director, and Fillmore East staffer. She owns more than 100 hats, not all of them work related. The Rose Leary Series of mysteries includes Bartender Wanted and One Too Many. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthologies Traveler’s Tales Italy, Cartwheels on the Faultline, and Saltwater Sweetwater, as well as in various periodicals. After the obligatory waitressing in college, she squandered a few years behind the bar at various dives in lower Manhattan. She also owned and operated a pub in northern California. Be careful what you write about. She graduated from Fordham University summa cum laude in comparative literature and still reads as many novels as she possibly can. Words are her life.