The Jazz Age, by Alexander Booth

It’s with a considerable amount of pride I announce the publication of my first novella: The Jazz Age, a crime noir thriller. It can be purchased through Amazon for the Kindle, or Kindle apps. Click the Text below to check it out:

“In the smoke filled speakeasies and raunchy nightclubs of the roaring twenties, the careless young flock to partake of the nights illicit pleasures. Unbeknownst to the flappers and bootleggers, a nameless assassin moves amongst them stalking his next victim. He is a flawless and unstoppable force, boasting talents which make him the perfect harbinger of death. With no remorse and no questions, he is your man if you need to end a life. That is, if you can afford a killer of his caliber. For him killing is as much an art form as it is a profession.

But what happens when perfection cracks? Can he make one last good hit with both the mob, and the police gunning for him? Can he escape the private investigator, Marshal Deacon, who outsmarts him every step of the way? Flawed and broken, is there any hope at redemption or does only damnation await the hired killer?”

This is a self drawn cover as well.

The Jazz Age started as a simple assignment for an creative writing class I took while attending St John’s University.  It was an open assignment. I was told write anything I desired and have the class workshop it. I’ve always had an affinity for crime noir stories. Its one of the genres a writer can be as bombastic as they like and it wont go overboard. There was quite a few  inspirations swimming through my head at the time. I had read about the Black Dahlia Murder recently, and had been watching a few detective movies where the cops hunt down an unseen killer, such as Se7en, and From Hell. Those stories were always told from the investigator’s point of view, with the killer as the unknown. I decided to invert that model, and have the killer be the protagonist and the investigator be the hidden force coming after him. The 1920’s setting came from a reread I had done of The Great Gatsby for a literature class. The 20’s fits the crime noir style like a glove. It’s a period of history characterized by grimy opulence. The drama of life and death play out well there.  Most people tell me The Jazz Age reminds them of Sin City, which surprisingly enough wasn’t one of my inspirations. When the next project was assigned I decided to write the next chapter in the story of my nameless assassin. Every section ended with a cliff hanger, and it became a personal need for me to finish the story. Then it became a personal need to get more people to read it, thus I self published the yarn.

The Jazz Age is hopefully the first of many self publishing projects. I have another novella completed. It should be available on the Kindle shortly. I have a third story which I finished the first draft of my manuscript

I could use as much help with promotions as possible. Check out the book on Amazon and leave a review. If you’re feeling particularly industrious  tell your friends about it on facebook, twitter, and various other social whatnots. Invite everyone you know the the publication announcement. Most importantly enjoy reading!