Sunset Swing

by Ray Celestin

Sunset Swing is the fourth and final novel in Ray Celestin’s City Blues Quartet, intertwining the history of jazz and the mob across six decades and each set in a different American city: New Orleans, Chicago and New York. Los Angeles in 1967 is the backdrop for Sunset Swing and one of the main characters is on leave from service in the Vietnam War to find her brother. Another wants to leave town to set up a vineyard. Louis Armstrong makes an appearance. Overall, the plot is slightly disjointed and the book does not work well as a standalone read. Like a few other mystery books on this list, it may be worth starting with the first book in the series, The Axeman’s Jazz, to appreciate this one.