The Axeman's Jazz - City Blues Quartet (Paperback)

The evocative prose brings the jazz-filled, mob-ruled 'Big Easy' of pre-prohibition America to life in glorious effect with a story full of suspense and intrigue. Stunning * Sunday Express *
A rewarding crime novel, swinging its way to a terrifying denouement with all the panache of a New Orleans marching band . . . An excellent debut * The Times *
A fascinating portrait of a vibrant and volatile city and a riveting read * Guardian *
Gripping . . . Celestin smartly evokes the atmosphere of 1919 New Orleans, and a city dominated by music and the mob. * Sunday Times *
Based on a true story . . . this thriller blends voodoo, gangsters and jazz into an intoxicating mix * Sunday Mirror *
Outstanding * Daily Telegraph *
A clever and utterly believable procedural with a suitably grisly killer, set in a brilliant and vibrant historical background * Crime Review *
The best debut I've read this year * Scotsman, Crime Books of the Year *
Superb. * Guardian Crime Books of the Year *
Celestin has skilfully woven around the facts a clever story of three detectives who, in different ways and for different motives, set out to find the murderer. He brilliantly portrays the mood of a city under a siege of fear. Fictional musicians mix with the real jazz artists of the period, not least Louis Armstrong. * The Times, Crime Books of the Year *
With such unlikely figures as Oscar Wilde being dragooned as sleuths in crime fiction, perhaps jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong is not such a stretch - Ray Celestin's debut novel places him as one of a group on the trail of a serial axe murderer in early 20th-century New Orleans. The Axeman's Jazz quickly gleaned awards, sporting an acute sense of period shored up by an evocation of the sound of early jazz - no easy thing on the printed page. There's a challenge for this writer: how does he follow this up? * Independent Crime Books of the Year *

An absolute must for true crime fanatics.

* Refinery29 *