Reviews
Praise for The Bolden Cylinder
Norman Woolworth delivers another beautifully crafted, well-researched story featuring unlikely hero Bruneau Abellard—antiques-dealer, lover of the finer things in life, and accidental
detective. What a pleasure it is to once again spend time with this growing cast of colorful, eccentric characters that includes New Orleans itself, which Woolworth masterfully evokes in a plot steeped in the city’s rich musical tradition.
​
Laura Buchwald - The Coat Check Girl and the upcoming The Book of Reservations
In his latest novel, The Bolden Cylinder, Norman Woolworth delivers a perfect blend of New Orleans culture, jazz history, unique characters, and intertwined mysteries. Bruneau Abellard, New Orleans antique store owner, finds a hidden compartment in a newly acquired piece of furniture that contains a relic of the earliest days of phonographs and recorded music—a “Edison Cylinder.” When it looks like the cylinder may contain a heretofore unknown recording by jazz legend Charles “Buddy” Bolden, the cylinder disappears in a house fire. The owner of the house goes missing. Authorities discover a dead body in the walls. And that’s just the beginning. Join Bruneau as he works to unravel the mystery behind the so-called “Bolden Cylinder”—and the secrets of the people he encounters along the way. You won’t be disappointed​
​
Michael Rigg – Voices of the Elysian Fields, A Jonathan Gray, M. D. Mystery
As in his series starter The Lafitte Affair (2024), Woolworth populates his richly atmospheric New Orleans setting with a gallery of colorful, eccentric, and formidable characters…An entertaining follow-up with vivid characters and a rich sense of place​
​
Kirkus Reviews
​I was excited to read The Bolden Cylinder because of its promise of jazz and its New Orleans setting—two of my favorite things. What I got was so much more: a richly layered mystery involving arson, unrequited love, and a fifty-year-old disappearance that ties the past and present together in unexpected ways…I couldn’t put The Bolden Cylinder down. This fast-paced novel is more than a mystery—it’s jazz history, secrets, friendship, and New Orleans.
​
Underrated Reviews
“From record collectors and night club singers to jazz notes, mob actions, voodoo influences, and insane asylum inmates, The Bolden Cylinder crafts a powerful blend of force and discovery to keep readers on their toes and wondering about outcomes and connections. Norman Woolworth brings this world to life via a first-person viewpoint that proves immersive.
​
A host of characters contribute different perspectives and experiences of New Orleans culture, with a rare cylinder recording involving each of them in novel ways that are delightfully unexpected as connections and situations evolve. Facts about musical collectibles and establishing legitimacy emerge in the course of realistic conversations, enlightening readers while adding authentic notes of culture and slang to the plot.
​
The interviews, investigations, motives, and mystery will intrigue and delight historical mystery readers…Libraries and readers seeking atmospheric, engrossing stories of discovery and suspense will find all these components and more in the musical world of The Bolden Cylinder.
​
Midwest Book Reviews