Blue Rondo

Description

An old flame has returned to Troy's life: Kitty Stilton, now wife of an American presidential hopeful, has come back to London, and with her, an unwelcome guest. Private eye Joey Rork has been hired to make sure Kitty's amorous liaisons with a rat-pack crooner don't ruin her husband's political career. He wants to know why Kitty has been spotted with Danny Ryan, whose twin brothers, in addition to owning one of London's hottest jazz clubs, are said to have inherited the crime empire of fallen mobster Alf Marx. Before Rork can find out, he meets a gruesome end. But he isn't the only one, and with the body-count mounting is it possible that the blood trail leads back to Troy's police force and into his own forgotten past?

Named by the Daily Telegraph as one of 'Fifty Crime Writers to Read Before You Die' and selected by Time magazine as one of 'Six Detective Series to Savour,' Lawton's work has earned him comparisons to John le Carre and Alan Furst. Lawton lives in a remote hilltop village in Derbyshire.

This book has a pace and a flavour that is racy, rakish and addictive. * Literary Review * The period atmosphere, illustrated with credible characters, is impeccable and the writing elegantly precise. * Daily Telegraph * The 50s atmosphere is acutely reproduced by John Lawton...Classy stuff. * Guardian * Few novelists have given me more pleasure in recent years than John Lawton. * Washington Post *