Andrew Cartmel The Vinyl Detective series

[cliffpeterson]

half way through this book, which is the first in a current 5 book series:

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26109016-written-in-dead-wax

 

Hilarious. guy knows his jazz records and record collecting.  

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cartmel

 

 

[GA Russell]

The Run-Out Groove - $4.95

https://www.hamiltonbook.com/the-vinyl-detective-the-run-out-groove-paperbound

[Kevin Bresnahan]

It isn't rated very highly on Amazon. I might still give the first one a try.

[Big Beat Steve]

Amazon ranking or reader's reviews? (which for most of the 6 in this series seem to rate 4.5 out of 5 stars, whatever that may mean in the end and depending on one's own tastes)

I am still on the fence about ordering the first few of them just for the fun of it, but I expect them to be fun for a casual read and for seeing if I will be drawn into the vinyl junkie world from THIS angle for a change ...
I've read and enjoyed "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby and "Tiger Rag" by Nicholas Christopher, I've enjoyed the recollections of record hunting in back-alley junk stores in decades gone by as related in "Back Beauty White Heat" and one of the Esquire Jazz Books or in the recollections of blues collectors (what was that again about the only known copy of one Charley Patton - or whoever - record surfacing in a stack of dusty 78s stashed under the bed of some elderly Black tenant in a shack on the wrong side of town? ), etc. So why not add one or two vaguely related books from THIS angle (and smile at the moments of "been there, done that") just to see how the the saying of "I'd kill for that record" might actually happen, even if these works are not likely to add to the canon of world literature?

Edited September 12, 2022 by Big Beat Steve

[cliffpeterson]

Finished the book.  To be clear, while the search for a specific fictionalized iconic record is central to the book, this is also a detective or mystery book. There are murders that occur as a result of the search and the main character solves them.  The vinyl search is London and England centric but I found it easy to relate to the author's depiction of charity shops and bramble sales.  Whether because the author is a vinyl collector himself or had great advisors, he accurately (to me) portrays the hunt for a specific collectable along with the arcane music and vinyl knowledge of the active collector. There is also seemingly knowledgeable presentation of audio equipment and vinyl cleaning equipment.  

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I read the first book and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a bit of a "look in the mirror" though - yes, I am a music geek, both hardware & software. I still can't believe I had to confirm that Max Roach played drums on that Gil Melle date.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

 

The whodunnit aspect was a bit of a head-scratcher. It should have been all about who was beating the vinyl detective to all of the local record shops and buying up the rarest records. Instead, it became all about who was killing all the local record dealers & collectors.

But here's the thing - why were the two bad guys killing everyone in their quest for this certain LP? It made no sense. Robbing someone of a record, even if it's a rare one, is hardly grounds to kill the person after robbing them. How dumb were they? They were so dumb, they killed two people before they robbed them. Huh? How stupid can you be? Even dumber - if the bad guys were so intent on getting this LP before our intrepid vinyl detective and they were so intent on stopping him from learning anything that they killed anyone who had the means to supply him with it, why didn't they just kill the vinyl detective and get him out of the way immediately? It would've made their search a lot simpler and they probably wouldn't have had to kill so many people.

Also, the "death" scene in Wales was just dumb. Who wouldn't run over to see if their girlfriend was OK after being shot? No one, that's who.

And yes, I will still be reading the next book in the series.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Does anyone know why this topic is not moving up to the top of the forum?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Bueller?