Ray Celestin garnered the CWA New Blood Dagger for Best Debut Crime Novel with this critically acclaimed historical thriller. Based on a real early-20th-century murder spree, The Axeman's Jazz finds Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot hunting the Axeman, a serial killer who has made it known that he plans to pass through New Orleans and spare the life of anyone playing jazz.
“Inspired by the serial killer thought to have been responsible for twelve murders in New Orleans between 1918 and 1919, Ray Celestin’s first novel, The Axeman’s Jazz initially stays close to the known facts and includes a letter, published in the newspapers at the time, which was supposedly sent by the original Axeman. The writer, who, like the author of the famous 1888 ‘Jack the Ripper’ letter, gives his address as ‘Hell,’ promises to claim his next victim at a specific date and time but says that he will spare those ‘in whose home a jazz band is in full swing.’ As with the Ripper, the real killer’s identity remains unknown, and Celestin has three characters struggling to work out who he or she might be. Detective lieutenant Michael Talbot heads the official investigation; his former partner, Luca d’Andrea, recently freed from prison for corruption, is tasked by the mafia to discover whodunnit; and ninetten-year-old Sherlock Holmes fan Ida Davis, a secretary for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, decides to branch out on her own…Both a fascinating portrait of a vibrant and volatile city and a riveting read.”
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Guardian