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Cahokia Jazz

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Cahokia Jazz

By: Francis Spufford
Narrated by: Andy Ingalls
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About this listen

A thrilling tale of murder and mystery in a city where history has run a little differently — from the bestselling author of Golden Hill.

In a city that never was, in an America that never was, on a snowy night at the end of winter, two detectives find a body on the roof of a skyscraper. It's 1922, and Americans are drinking in speakeasies, dancing to jazz, stepping quickly to the tempo of modern times. Beside the Mississippi, the ancient city of Cahokia lives on – a teeming industrial metropolis, containing every race and creed. Among them, peace holds. Just about. But that body on the roof is about to spark off a week that will spill the city's secrets, and bring it, against a soundtrack of wailing clarinets and gunfire, either to destruction or rebirth.

The multiple-award-winning Francis Spufford returns, with a lovingly created, richly pleasure-giving, epically scaled tale set in the golden age of wicked entertainments.

©2023 Francis Spufford (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd Crime Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Mystery Science Fiction City Exciting

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All stars
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What a fantastic book and audiobook. It is so rare to come across something truly original - in this case a familiar noir detective thriller in a mostly unfamiliar alternative timeline. It’s also rare to find an alternative history that so easily becomes natural and explicable to the reader. All in an artful piece of writing, with a very good narrator.

Superb all round

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I loved everything about this book. The reader is one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Brilliant and hugely entertaining

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Brilliant creation of an alternative universe in which Native Americans are not pushed to the margins. Would like more fleshing out of historical and geographical details as well as the wider geopolitical setting

Would like a sequel

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I didn’t think Spufford could better than ‘On Golden Hill’ but he has. I was entranced by this magical city - if only it were real. Dramatic, exciting, romantic. It has it all. Barrow is such a wonderful central character.
The performance was very good- he can’t do an Irish accent but I’ll for forgive him for that!

I didn’t want it to end

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Set in an intricate, and absorbing world the plot drags you in, and then keeps you listening with a combination of unexpected twists, and a true storytellers sense of pace. The author manages to carefully tread the line between following“the right “ Plot for his characters, and sustaining intrigue and suspense for the reader. I had heard beautiful reviews for this book and it lived up to all of them. Thank you to all involved.

Beautifully written, beautifully performed! 

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Great world-building, so well thought-through and fully fleshed out. I loved the principal characters and I thought the action was well paced. Terrific writing altogether and I was engrossed right up until the closing sentences.
It felt a bit like Raymond Chandler had written a new script for Blade Runner.

Wow!

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This was recommended by a friend as something different to read, and it was. It took me a little while to get into it but I really enjoyed. It was a good story with interesting characters and the narrator bought them to life.

Different

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This novel is beautifully written and superbly narrated. Like Spufford’s earlier novel, Golden Hill, it approaches the issue of racism from an unusual angle. But it also has a central character who is supremely likeable.

A book that makes you think

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Wonderful story-telling, set within a beautifully-spun, complex context. Francis Spufford pulls the reader into his convincing world and leads you through a variety of intriguing situations. another great read from this author. The narration was superb and enhanced the story telling

An enveloping tale of crime and inter-racial tensions

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This is highly enjoyable. The narrator does a fine job, except when he attempts an Irish accent for one of the characters. He really needs to work on that!

Distinctive, original and gripping

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