Following The Mobster's Lament, this is the fourth and final book in Ray Celestin's critically acclaimed City Blues quartet.
Ray Celestin Books
Ray Celestin is a novelist and screenwriter whose works explore the intertwined histories of jazz and organized crime. His debut novel earned him the CWA New Blood Dagger, marking a significant entry into the crime fiction landscape and appearing on numerous year-end accolades. He continues this exploration in his subsequent novels, including those in the 'The City Blues Quartet' series, which intricately weaves together the narratives of jazz and the mob through a substantial portion of the twentieth century.
The Mobster's Lament
- 496 pages
- 18 hours of reading
Award-winning author Ray Celestin's The Mobster's Lament is both a gripping crime novel and a vivid, panoramic portrait of 1940s New York as the mob rises to the height of its powers . . .
Dead Man's Blues
- 498 pages
- 18 hours of reading
A stunning historical mystery from Ray Celestin, following on from the events of The Axeman's Jazz.
New Orleans, 1919. As a dark serial killer - the Axeman - stalks the city, three individuals set out to unmask him: Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot heading up the official investigation, but struggling to find leads, and harbouring a grave secret of his own. Former detective Luca d'Andrea now working for the mafia; his need to solve the mystery of the Axeman is every bit as urgent as that of the authorities. And Ida - a secretary at the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and dreaming of a better life, she stumbles across a clue which lures her and her musician friend, Louis Armstrong, to the case and into terrible danger... As Michael, Luca and Ida each draw closer to discovering the killers identity, the Axeman himself will issue a challenge to the people of New Orleans: play jazz or risk becoming the next victim
Palace of Shadows
- 352 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Set against a haunting backdrop, the story follows Samuel Etherstone, a struggling artist who receives a peculiar commission from the enigmatic heiress Mrs. Chesterfield to work on a Gothic house on North Yorkshire's Smugglers' Coast. As he uncovers the dark history of the house and its original architect, Francisco Varano, chilling tales of madness and disappearances emerge. Samuel's exploration reveals the sinister obsession driving its construction, leading him into a web of eerie mysteries and supernatural threats that challenge his very sanity.