Short bio

Ray Celestin is a novelist and screenwriter based in London.

His debut novel, The Axeman’s Jazz (2014), 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 (2016), 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 a series – ‘The City Blues Quartet’ – which charts the twin histories of jazz and the mob through the middle 50 years of the twentieth century.

The Mobster’s Lament (2019) is the third instalment in this series. It was shortlisted for Best Crime Novel of the Year at the Amazon Publishing Capital Crime Festival. It’s been featured as one of the Books of the Year by both The Times and The i newspapers, and was The Times’ Book of the Month. The Daily Express called it a “contender for book of the year”.

 

Author Q&A

Download here

 

Book details

The best way to get some idea of the books is to read their preface / afterword and reading group questions. I’ve collated them for download here.

 

 Awards & Nominations

The Axeman’s Jazz

• Winner of the CWA John Creasey Dagger for Best Debut Crime Novel of the Year
• Winner of the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy Best Crime Novel of the Year Translated into Swedish
• The Independent Newspaper Crime Book of the Year
• Shortlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year Award
• Shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers’ Best First Novel Award

Dead Man’s Blues

• Winner of the Historia Magazine Best Historical Crime Thriller of the Year
• The Daily Mail Books of the Year
• Shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of The Year
• Finalist for the Académie du Jazz’s Prix Du Meilleur Livre De Jazz
• Shortlisted for the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy Best Crime Novel of the Year Translated into Swedish

The Mobster’s Lament

• Shortlisted for Best Crime Novel of the Year at the Amazon Publishing Capital Crime Festival
• The Times Books of the Year
• The i newspaper Books of the Year
• The Times’ Book of the Month

Reviews

I haven’t really kept up with reviews beyond the press clippings my publisher sends me, here’s what I gathered together from trying to match up the clippings with active web-pages:

The Axeman’s Jazz

• The Independent
• The Daily Express
• The Guardian
• The New York Times

Dead Man’s Blues

• The Times
• The Daily Express
• The New York Times
• The Spectator

The Mobster’s Lament

• Coming soon-(ish)

Influences on The City Blues Quartet

• L.A. Confidential – James Ellroy
• American Tabloid – James Ellroy
• An Instance of the Fingerpost – Iain Pears
• The Yiddish Policeman’s Union – Michael Chabon
• From Hell – Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler

 

Structure of The City Blues Quartet

Book	City	Decade	Season	Weather	Song
The Axeman's Jazz	New Orleans	1910s	Spring	Rain	The Mysterious Axeman's Jazz
Dead Man's Blues	Chicago	1920s	Summer	Sunshine	West End Blues
The Mobster's Lament	New York	1940s	Autumn	Snow	Relaxin' At Camarillo
?	Los Angeles	1960s	Winter	Wind	?

 

Contact

Agents: https://www.lutyensrubinstein.co.uk/literary-agency/

Publishers: https://www.panmacmillan.com/help-is-at-hand