Ray Celestin: Dead Man Blues, 9781447258919, 12, 99, Mantle / Pan Macmillan

Last year I stumble across this new crime writer and reviewed “The Axeman’ Jazz” which ended up winning the CWA New Blood Dagger Award, much deservedly to my delight.  I was overjoyed to discover that Ray Celestine’s   second book which he is planning to turn into a four part series was out already. 

When one likes the first books so very much, you always wonder whether the author can pull it off again but I can tell you:  “Dead Man Blues” is just as good as “Axeman’s Jazz”.  Instead of New Orleans, the second book  is set in Chicago,  charting the history of Jazz and the Mob in the Twenties making it not only a great mystery but providing plenty of information about the days of Bronzeville, the speak easies, Al Capone and his gang and the music scene in this vibrant time of the city.  I just gobbled it all up.

The same protagonists from “Axeman’s Jazz”,   Ida Davis and Michael Tabot, now Pinkerton detectives are the main characters in “Dead Man Blues” but the book has three storylines running parallel which all come together in the end.  The plot turns so many corners that it is a good idea to stay with the book in order not to lose the strings and names running parallel. I would be a great spoil sport if I started to review exact details but fear not, I will not spoil your reading fun.

It is the summer of 1926 in Chicago and a group of corrupt politicians are poisoned with toxic champagne at a party in a famous Chicago hotel in the Black Belt.   At the same time as this event shakes up the city, Michael and Ida are hired by the mother of a missing heiress, Gwendolyn Van Haren ,  the young women seems to have vanished from the face of the earth as has her finance. Starting to dig around, they soon come across evidence suggesting  her fiancé was homosexual,  had a dark streak and was involved in some revolting activities which  Gwendolyn must have uncovered as she was about to break off the engagement.  His father , trying to marry his son off into one of Chicago’s  old society families now lacking the funds to live the lifestyle they are used to,  did not  acquire  his new riches  through ethical activities either ……

Gangster Dante Sanfelippo, a rum runner and heroin addict having fled to New York a few years ago, is called back by Al Capone with the order to unearth who might be behind the poisoning of the politicians, seriously threatening Capone’s bootlegging operations. Dante himself has a very personal interest to find the killers.

 A young crime scene photographer, Jacob Russo, is called in by the Chicago police to take shots of a gruesome murder. Jacob has taken many photographs of victims but he is unable to shake the image of the black man’s smashed in face and decides to embark on an investigation of his own.

As a back drop in the mystery, Ida’s friend Louis Armstrong is supplying her with crucial information snapped up during his gigs, playing in speak easies for gangsters and a growing chic, wealthy Chicago crowd discovering the thrill of Jazz, as Louis fame is beginning to rise.

Ray Celestin is a fantastic storyteller, he comes up with the greatest plots, all set around the Jazz scenes in the various cities.  I cannot wait to read the third book which he is thinking of setting in New York during the Forties.

The book of mirrors by E.O.Chirovici, currently scheduld for Jan 2017, royal hard back 9781780895673, 12,99 GBP (all subject to change) 

I am fortunate my wonderful colleagues at Penguin Random House continue to send me book proofs before the title is actually published. Probably one of the best books I read all year „The book of mirrors" by E.O. Chirovici is not published yet,  take note and race out to buy the book once  published in January 2017, I guarantee a fantastic page turner with breathtaking twists and turns.

I was sucked into the story right from the moment I started reading, a psychological thriller recounted from three people’s perspectives. The books is as much a who's dunnit as it is trying to uncover the motive behind the murder of Prof. Joseph Wieder, a renowned psychologist and university professor. The memories and assumptions of all the characters in the book play a central role in this fascinating web of events. I could not guess the ending until the final chapter and even then the book took turns. 

The first part of the story has Peter Katz’s voice, a literary agent who receives the first pages of a manuscript in the mail, a submission by Richard Flynn, a failed writer as we later learn, describing his acquaintance and involvement with Joseph Wieder. His submitted 20 pages are the next part in the book, stating events leading up to Wieder’s death. 

Richard Flynn was once in love with Laura Baines who is also one of Wieder’s protégées, a promising student but also an inscrutable young woman with high ambitions. When Katz realizes he is reading a great mystery and a bestseller, he tries to contact Richard Flynn only to learn from his girlfriend of Flynn’s unexpected death. He instructs the girlfriend to search for the rest of the manuscript but this proves unsuccessful. Katz makes the decision to hire an investigative journalist, John Keller, hoping to get to the bottom of Joe Wielder’s murder which was never resolved and to fill in the blank pages left by Richard Flynn’s death.

John Keller's investigation make up the next part of the book providing some startling discoveries, such as finding Frank Spoel sitting on death row and his connection with the events. Keller also comes across the name of a now retired cop, Roy Freeman, who was one of the investigating officers in the Joe Wieder case. Having a lot of spare time on his hands and still feeling unhappy about this unresolved case in his career, Freeman decides to embark on an investigation of his own. 

It would be crimial if I revealed anything more as it would rob you of the suspense when reading this terrific book.

The manuscript  was sold into more than 30 countries which doesn't surprise me, I would have snapped it up on the spot. I am absolutely certain we will see this novel on many bestseller lists in the months to come as it deserves to be. I envy you the page turning time ahead, sadly behind me now.