Report an issue
Tell us what's wrong and we'll take a look.
Thanks – we got it. We'll review and follow up if needed.
As America staggers through the Great Depression,
death stalks the pioneer blues musicians.
In the depths of the Great Depression, father and son musicologists John and Alan Lomax make several eye-opening-at times menacing-journeys through the Jim Crow South. Assigned to record pioneer blues artists for the Library of Congress, they visit plantations and penitentiaries, rural crossroads and bustling cities. During their travels, they encounter a series of bizarre killings. Among the victims are country blues giants Charley Patton and Robert Johnson, along with leading female singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. The police show little interest in investigating the deaths of these seminal black performers, so the Lomaxes decide to look into the murders. They learn that the crimes are the work of a single deranged killer, and as they come closer to identifying the madman, they become targets themselves. Their discovery of who committed the murders, and why, carries with it the threat of imminent death.
Paul Martin
Paul Martin was educated at Cambridge University and at Stanford University, California, where he was Harkness Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences. He lectured and researched in Behavioural Biology at Cambridge University, and was a Fellow of Wolfson College, before leaving academia to pursue other interests, including science writing. His previous books include The Sickening Mind and Counting Sheep.
More by Paul Martin
Why Readwise Books?
Readwise Books is an ebook & audiobook platform that automatically logs how much you and your friends read, making it fun and easy to read more. Learn more →