In March, Andrew Cartmel‘s first Vinyl Detective novel, WRITTEN IN DEAD WAX is due to be published in Germany! Published by Suhrkamp as MURDER SWING, here’s the synopsis…
London, heute: Er ist ein Plattensammler, ein Spezialist für äußerst seltene LPs, die er kauft und verkauft. Die Jobbeschreibung auf seiner Visitenkarte lautet: ›Vinyl-Detektiv‹. Und manche Leute nehmen das ganz wörtlich – so wie die geheimnisvolle Nevada Warren, die ihn für eine Unsumme anheuert, um für einen anonymen Auftraggeber eine Platte zu finden, die zu der schmalen Produktion eines winzigen kalifornischen Jazz-Labels gehört, das in den 1950ern nur ein Jahr existierte.
Bald häufen sich seltsame Todesfällen, die allesamt mit dieser Platte zu tun haben könnten. Aber was könnte auf ihr zu hören sein, was sie so ungemein wertvoll macht? Und was hat einer der mächtigsten Konzerne der weltweiten Unterhaltungsindustrie damit zu tun? Zu allem Überfluss hat unser Detektiv bald auch noch die »Aryian Twins« Heinz und Heidi an der Hacke, zwei ziemlich extravagante Killer…
The Vinyl Detective series is published in the UK and US by Titan Books: WRITTEN IN DEAD WAX, THE RUN-OUT GROOVE, VICTORY DISC and the upcoming FLIP BACK.
Here’s the English-language synopsis for WRITTEN IN DEAD WAX…
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…
Here are just a few of the reviews the novel has received so far…
‘This charming mystery feels as companionable as a leisurely afternoon trawling the vintage shops with a good friend.’ — Kirkus
‘… fast-paced, lighthearted adventure… marvelously inventive and endlessly fascinating…’ — Publishers Weekly
‘Author Cartmel has combined the tropes of the several genres into a surprising, refreshing story centered around old-fashioned records… the story delivers multiple chuckles per chapter… Based on this volume, the series will be a hit.’ — New York Journal of Books
‘The story is so charming, funny and engaging… It’s the perfect chilled-out read… It’s British crime fiction with an American jazz soundtrack and it’s delightful. As long as Andrew Cartmel keeps spinning these characters, I’ll keep reading.’ (9/10) — Alternative Magazine Online
‘[Cartmel’s] charity-shop-haunting, record-fair-regular vinyl obsessive with an encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz is a natural and welcome addition to the genre’s pantheon… a highly entertaining cast of supporting characters… a pair of utterly convincing cats which effortlessly steal every scene in which they appear… a sharp, amusing and compulsively readable detective yarn packed with witty asides dealing with everyone from Sun Ra to Elvis Presley, as enjoyably accessible to the jazz obsessive as it is to the general reader.’ — London Jazz News
Andrew is also the co-author (with Ben Aaronovitch) of the Rivers of London and Seventh Doctor comic series, published by Titan Comics.
