Sunset Swing: Volume 4

WINNER OF CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AND CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER

Los Angeles. Christmas, 1967. A city on fire as a killer strikes . . .

A young nurse, Kerry Gaudet, travels to the City of Angels desperate to find her missing brother, fearing that something terrible has happened to him: a serial killer is terrorizing the city, picking victims at random, and Kerry has precious few leads.

Ida Young, recently retired private investigator, is dragged into helping the police when a young woman is discovered murdered in her motel room. Ida has never met the victim but her name has been found at the crime scene and the LAPD wants to know why . . .

Meanwhile Mob fixer Dante Sanfelippo has put his life savings into purchasing a winery in Napa Valley but first he must do one final favour for the Mob before leaving town: find a bail jumper before the bond money falls due, and time is fast running out.

Ida’s friend, Louis Armstrong, flies into the city just as her investigations uncover mysterious clues to the killer’s identity. And Dante must tread a dangerous path to pay his dues, a path which will throw him headlong into a terrifying conspiracy and a secret that the conspirators will do anything to protect . . .

Completing his American crime quartet, Ray Celestin’s Sunset Swing is a stunning novel of conspiracy, murder and madness, an unforgettable portrait of a city on the edge.

Ray Celestin is a novelist and screenwriter based in London. His debut novel, The Axeman’s Jazz, won the CWA New Blood Dagger for best debut crime novel of the year, and was featured on numerous ’Books of the Year’ lists. His follow-up, Dead Man’s Blues, won the Historia Historical Thriller of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for a number of other awards, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year. The novels are part of his City Blues Quartet, which charts the twin histories of jazz and the Mob through the middle fifty years of the twentieth century. Sunset Swing is the fourth instalment in this series.