Sunset Swing

It’s here! "Sunset Swing". The fourth and final book in Ray Celestin’s City Blues Quartet. Fans have been waiting, but finally we get the final chapter in Ida and Louis’ journey. It’s a new city, a new time, we’ve got a new song and a new killer (or do we?)

This time we’re in Los Angeles. It’s December 1967 and a young army nurse travels there to find her missing brother. A serial killer is terrorising the city and she fears he is the next victim.

Ida, now 67, has retired from her PI job but is dragged back to work when a young woman is found murdered in her motel room, with Ida’s name in her possessions. Louis Armstrong, flies into the city just as her investigations uncover mysterious clues to the killer's identity.

And so we launch into another gorgeous tale of murder, conspiracy and madness. As usual, the pace is frantic, racing against the clock to find the killer. We meet old friends, catch up with events, mess with The Mob, and also possibly come face to face with old enemies. The various threads of the story are nicely interwoven and as they all come together, the whole series comes into focus.

One of the best things about this series has been the attention to detail – whether it’s 1900’s New Orleans, Chicago 1928, or 1960’s Los Angeles, the author manages to capture the sounds, sights and smells of the period. This is America in the sixties so there’s the Vietnam War, riots, gangsters scrabbling to survive, conspiracies and hippies and sit-ins. Ray Celestin perfectly weaves real-life events into the story, and we get some heart-wrenching scenes with Louis Armstrong that will live in my memory for a long time.

It’s also been lovely to follow Ida, Louis and friends as they age and move through the decades, and this final story perfectly ends their journey. While probably of most interest to fans of the series, this will also appeal to newcomers. Highly recommended. I was lucky to score a NetGalley ARC, but rest assured I’ll be first in the queue when the book hits the shelves.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy of Sunset Swing, the fourth novel in the City Blues Quartet, featuring PI Ida Young with cameos from her childhood friend Louis Armstrong.

Los Angeles, 1967. Ida has retired from her PI agency but is dragged back into the investigative business by the police when a young woman is found dead in a motel room with Ida’s name on a newspaper clipping. Elsewhere in the city Kerry Gaudet has flown in from Vietnam to find her missing teenage brother and Dante “the gent” Sanfelippo is strong armed into one last job for the Mob before retiring to a vineyard in the Nappa Valley.

Wow, just wow. What a read with so many layers and intricacies, I’m not quite sure where to start. I think, perhaps, the best place is the atmosphere, because that sets the scene and covers the entire novel. It is intense with the City of Angels being not quite as angelic as it would like you to think. The author is more interested in the seedy underbelly of corruption and the links between the various factions. It’s pervasive and fascinating, especially as much of it is rooted in fact. On a more physical level the Santa Ana winds and forest fires add to the sense of unease, tension and helplessness. The symbolism is everywhere.

I’m not getting into how all the various strands come together, because that would spoil the novel. Each character has their own investigation and story to tell and the narrative switches between them. It works very well with each character taking a different approach and adding to the reader’s store of knowledge and understanding. Ida is the link to the others, but not necessarily the driving force as they all have their own agendas.

The plot is a bit of a masterpiece. The answers are not difficult to understand when exposed, but getting there is complex and intricate. It seems like a conspiracy theory with rogue government agents, murder, drugs and a serial killer and difficult to believe, but, unfortunately, it is grounded in reality and not at all as far fetched as would appear. I didn’t find it easy at times to keep up with who did what and why, but I still felt constantly rewarded by this novel.

There is a strong sense of what Ida calls pessimism, but saw more as uncertainty in the novel. She, Louis and Dante are no longer young and life is catching up with them. I didn’t see regret in them, more acceptance that their best days are behind them. This could have taken a dark turn, but they choose to fight and the novel ends with a surprising optimism.

Sunset Swing is one of the best novels I have read this year, so I have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.