The Mobster's Lament

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read "The Mobster's Lament", the third book in the City Blues Quartet by Ray Celestin, in return for a fair and honest review.

I have read the previous two installments in the City Blues Quartet - "The Axeman's Jazz" and "Dead Man's Blues" and thoroughly enjoyed both, so it was with great anticipation that I opened "The Mobster's Lament" - and I was not disappointed.

Michael Talbot (retired) and Ida Young are back on the scene, and this time the case is personal; and it takes them both to New York City and Harlem where they are trying to save Michael's son, Tom, from being falsely convicted of a horrendous mass murder.

At the same time, we're introduced to Gabriel "Gabby" Levenson, a career mob man who works for 'boss of all bosses' Frank Costello. Unbeknownst to Frank, Gabriel is planning on setting out for Mexico soon, with his orphan niece - to try and escape the mob. But, Frank gives Gabriel a task - to recover some missing millions that the now-deceased Benny Seigel has stashed away somewhere.

Also in the mix - although in a somewhat minor role this time - is Louis Armstrong, who's down on his luck with the collapse of popularity in Swing music and looking for a new start.

This tale is just as complex as Mr. Celestin's previous books, and takes us on a roller-coaster ride through all of New York - the good, the bad and the evil. And introduces us to a truly monstrous killer.

All in all, this was a fitting addition to the series and left me salivating for the next installment. Highly recommended, but I'd suggest you read the previous novels for context - lots of context.

For full disclosure, I have not read the first two books in Ray Celestin's City Blues Quartet series, having not realized until it was too late that there was such a series, which it turns out is a happy turn of events for me.

On the merits of this book as a standalone, it was purely magnificent,a joy to read, for most of the story. I found it was not necessary to read the rest of the series to enjoy this book. I was really happy with the story from Ida's and Gabriel's POV. They were both wonderful storytellers and had independent story arcs that came ever closer, which was great for the suspense of the book, but I found the POV of Costello somewhat lacking, either it needed more or to be taken out completely.

The full arc of the story was told in exactly the right amount of pacing, slowly and steadily building up the suspense. I can't tell you how many times the story built to what I thought was the climax and it just turned out to be another step toward the real climax, which is both a good and a bad thing. The real climax did feel a little rushed, being that the build up was over 50 pages.

The setting was very interesting, but it sort of jumped all over the place, from the club to the hotel, to the hideout, to the music hall. It was a little confusing given that there were two arcs happening at once, and often people would go places, but you didn't know where everybody else was. Also not necessarily a bad thing, just something to keep in mind.

I did love the historical events and people interspersed throughout the novel, from Louis Armstrong to Frank Costello, and it must have been tough to combine all these historical events into a coherent story.

Altogether the story was an interesting look at post-war New York City and it is a great read for historical fiction fans. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and reviewing it and I thank NetGallery for sending me an ARC of it. I am now adding the rest of the series to my TBR.

4 stars

one of my favorite series, great to see these characters again. great writing = another great entry in this series. highly recommended!