'The Axeman's Jazz' by Ray Celestin

 

New Orleans,1919 (the year before prohibition hit). Jazz and alcohol fuelled parties run continuously throughout the segregated and Mob-ruled city. Then something else turns up to ruin everyone's day: the Axeman.
Based on a true story, this tale provincially follows three characters who are all searching for the serial killer that's killing people with an axe (hence 'axeman' -clever right?!). We have the cop, Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot who is hated by everybody on the force after he exposed the rampant corruption in the police department, who feels he's been given this unsolvable case so that he can finally be buried. We have Luca D'Andrea, the corrupt cop that Michael put in prison. He's just been released from prison and the only job he can get is back with the mob. So the mob can continue extorting protection money from businesses they need to be seen protecting the community. So Luca is given the job of finding the axeman before the cops do, despite wanting nothing more than to leave this life and move to Italy. Finally we have Ida, a secretary at the Pinkerton's detective agency. A girl who loves Sherlock Holmes and wants to be a detective, but knows she never can because of her gender and ethnicity. Helped along the way from her childhood friend Louis Armstrong she decides to prove her worth by capturing this killer.
When I first started this book I was constantly wondering how much of it is true. Was Michael Talbot really the lead detective? Was he married to a black woman? Was Louis Armstrong involved in tracking down a killer? I started to do a little research, printed out a map with the locations of the Axeman's murders but then I told myself it didn't matter which bits were true or not, the book is classified in fiction, just read it.
So read it I did. It is amazing. The story is dark, foreboding and very tense. As the three main characters collect evidence and clues you're shouting at them to somehow get together and compare notes, as they'd work it out if they pooled their resources. Obviously the Axeman is a famous unsolved murder case, so no convictions will be taking place, but that doesn't mean that under the guise of fiction the story can't have a more fulfilling end. Whether it does or not I wont say, but what I will tell you is the characters that Ray writes about whether inspired by real people or not are made real with his storytelling. Every character, no matter how minor is a fully fleshed out human being which along with the fact the story is a true one makes everything seem so real and threatening. I loved this book, and you should too. Without giving away what happens to some of the characters, I really hope that at least one of them is back in another book when prohibition hits.