More of Wot I have Read…

The Axeman’s Jazz by Ray Celestin

I enjoyed this book, partly as I have recently visited the city and like jazz music, but mostly for the well-developed characters and interesting interconnecting storylines that are based on historical events (although altered to give a greater sense of drama).

‘New Orleans, 1919. As a dark serial killer – the Axeman – stalks the city, three individuals set out to unmask him.

Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot, heading up the official investigation, is struggling to find leads and harbouring his own grave secret. Former detective Luca d’Andrea finds himself working for the mafia – whose need to solve the mystery of the Axeman is every bit as urgent as that of the authorities. And Ida, a secretary at the Pinkerton Detective Agency, stumbles across a clue which lures her and her musician friend, Louis Armstrong, to the case and into terrible danger…

As Michael, Luca and Ida each draw closer to discovering the killer’s identity, the Axeman himself will issue a challenge to the people of New Orleans: play jazz or risk becoming the next victim.’

Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin

I found this book a little annoying. The characters and setting were not well developed and I found the whole thing somewhat contrived and lacking depth.

‘Nell Crane has never held a boy’s hand.

In a city devastated by an epidemic, where survivors are all missing parts—an arm, a leg, an eye—Nell has always been an outsider. Her father is the famed scientist who created the biomechanical limbs that everyone now uses. But she’s the only one with her machinery on the inside: her heart. Since the childhood operation, she has ticked. Like a clock, like a bomb. And as her community rebuilds, everyone is expected to contribute to the society’s good . . . but how can Nell live up to her father’s revolutionary ideas when she has none of her own?

Then she finds a lost mannequin’s hand while salvaging on the beach, and inspiration strikes. Can Nell build her own companion in a world that fears advanced technology? The deeper she sinks into this plan, the more she learns about her city—and her father, who is hiding secret experiments of his own.’