The Vinyl Detective : Written in Dead Wax by Andrew Cartmel

Author : Andrew Cartmel
Title : The Vinyl Detective : Written in Dead Wax
Published : 2016
Publisher : Titan Books
Pages : 476
Genre : Crime Fiction

     He is a record collector — a connoisseur of vinyl, hunting out rare and elusive LPs. His business card describes him as the “Vinyl Detective” and some people take this more literally than others. Like the beautiful, mysterious woman who wants to pay him a large sum of money to find a priceless lost recording — on behalf of an extremely wealthy (and rather sinister) shadowy client. Given that he’s just about to run out of cat biscuits, this gets our hero’s full attention. So begins a painful and dangerous odyssey in search of the rarest jazz record of them all…

     Once again I have delved into my to be read pile, I'm determined to cut it in half this year. The Vinyl Detective has only spent a short time here and it's one that I have been meaning to get stuck into. For me, this book combines two of my favorite things. Obviously, that includes reading books but I am also no stranger to spending time hunting through boxes of vinyl not only in shops but also record fairs. While I am sure my collection pales in comparison to just a few of these fictional characters, much like them I lovingly look after them. I was curious to see how these two worlds would come crashing together. It is one of those places where people feel very passionate about there chosen interest and while I only paddle around in the shallow end those who breathe the rarefied air of multi-thousand-pound records I could quite see killing for a first pressing. 

     Our hero of the novel seems quite content in his life of buying and selling records . I am sure I have run into his type more than once in the back of some record store. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the artist and also every pressing of there work be it common or super rare only ever realized in a hundred copies in Japan.  For me he really was someone I could connect with, I'm sure if he was real would have great long chats about Bowie records or that limited edition John Coltrane album I have. For those not so acquainted with the world of vinyl, Cartmel gives you enough to know when he is referring to some very specific point. This is helped along by the women set by a mysterious employer to help track down a very rare piece of vinyl. But she is by no means there to fill in the arm candy quota. She is someone we get to know and by the end, I could not help not only rooting for her but also caring about. While these two go on there grand adventure we get a glorious cast of side characters. I think anyone who is a big fan of any chosen interest will recognize them from there own fandom.   

     For me this book took me slightly by surprise, I wasn't, in all honesty, expecting to love it so much. It took me back not only to those crime books that first drew me back into reading but showed me a world that I was already slightly familiar with. Cartmel's style makes it so easy to get lost in the rhythm of his story.  It's like those old pulp fiction crime novels from back in the day. I suppose if I had to make comparisons I would say If you took Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and it had a baby with Nick Hornby's High Fidelity you would probably not be far off. I suppose if you whee not really into Vinyl or music, in general, you might be put off by the thought of this book. But I would say that at its heart is a good solid mystery. It is something I worked at as I flew through this book. It is a book with a great many clues scatted throughout. It was also a straight out fun book to get my teeth into. The author has managed to bring out the humor from his story without it descending into farce. 

     This is a book about obsession, about the drive to have something you don't and all the ends that can take you to. For me, it was a great place to spend some time with not only people who felt oddly familiar both in real life and fiction. But also as a well balanced and thought out crime novel. For me it took me back to those books I have read before but also gave me something brand new, still sealed top condition. I hope if you choose to give it a go you can find something that will give you the same pleasure as it gave me.