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The Axeman's Jazz cover art

The Axeman's Jazz

By: Ray Celestin
Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
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Summary

New Orleans, 1919. As a dark serial killer - The Axeman - stalks the city, three individuals set out to unmask him. 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. And as the case builds to its crescendo, the sky will darken and a great storm will loom over the city.

©2014 Ray Celestin (P)2014 W. F. Howes Ltd

What listeners say about The Axeman's Jazz

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Promising story but poor narration

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I was looking forward to listening to this book but after 90 minutes, although the story is promising, the narration is poor. The voices used veer between a poor rendition of Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry and characters from the Simpsons. The Scots and Irish accents of the police personnel wander all over the place. It occurred to me that Ida was going to be a key character in the investigation of the murders and I just couldn't stand listening to the whiny voice being used for her so I'm afraid this book is going back. Honestly, when we read a book we don't take on a dozen different voices. Why do it for an audio book, especially if the reader is not up to the job? If the writing is good enough, it should be clear who is speaking. Male readers inevitably make a poor fist of female voices so time to stop this nonsense and just have someone read in a their own voice.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Quite a good listen but not my favourite

I did enjoy this book but it was probably 4 hours longer than it needs to be and although the narrator was probably good at American accents (I am British so i couldn't say), the Scottish accent was awful! Set in 1919 New Orleans, a murderer is about and various people are trying to catch him. Some of these characters are better than others and the story is quite slow as I say, but generally speaking it was quite a good listen and I am going to finish the series so it can't have been that bad!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Listening experience ruined by narration.

Was excited to find a new, highly recommended author of this genre but couldn't get past first chapter because of poor interpretation and performance by narrator. Will have to resort to sourcing print editions as he also narrates 2 other books by this writer.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

story a little complex for me.

I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I'd given it more time. could only listen in bite sized chunks. I found the story quite confusing at points, and found it difficult to follow.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Awwww

This book had so much potential but went nowhere. it had jazz, Louis, murder and gumshoes in New Orleans...

Even a true story line.....

Half way through.... ...okay only still listening 'cos its based on a real story right....

Almost at end....

lets google that...oh

Ps the ending cringe...

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Very uninspiring

The story was very flat and became difficult to follow due to this . That narration was awful. The accents and voices were laughable

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Intriguing, but little suspense.

An intriguing story and I wanted to know what happened but
a) breadth of characters (and viewpoints) led to it feeling muddled and lacking cohesion.
(and what was the purpose of Louis Armstong being a character?)
b) needs a good edit to add tension. Not much suspense, even when characters were in danger.

Narration - accents are hard, but important. The Scottish character sounded more like an Ulsterman than a Scot.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredibly engrossing

I had been wanting to listen/ read this for so long! Utterly enthralling throughout the entirety

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well worth listening but let down by narrator

The first of the very good quartet but the least good. Overall the narration is ok but the narrator’s character voices are poor and almost caricatures - Scottish and Irish accents are straight out of the Simpsons and female voices are generally camp.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Oh, The Shark Has Pretty Teeth, Dear...

Ragtime hoodoo whodunnit with this slice of pre-prohibition New Orleans noir from Ray Celestin. Exhuming the unsolved case of a real-life serial killer known as "The Axeman", Celestin fleshes out the bones with a mix of mob mischief, corrupt cops, voodoo curses and long-buried secrets rising from the grave. The narrative is sparky and evocatively written; the cinematic plot neatly in the tradition of Chinatown or L.A. Confidential. Possibly I could have done without the inclusion of Louis Armstrong as a principal character (an analogue would have been less jarring) and the plucky heroine erred towards the Mary Sue, but neither of these things were a problem. Due to the involved plot, I suspect 'The Axeman's Jazz' is an audiobook that rewards a second listen so as to better enjoy all the carefully-structured details.
I'm also surprised by some of the negativity directed at Christopher Ragland's narration, which I thought did the job perfectly well.

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