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The Vinyl Detective - Written in Dead Wax (Vinyl Detective 1) (Vinyl Detective Mysteries): A Vinyl Detective Mystery 1

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This book really took me by surprise. On the face of it, this is a book about a guy hunting for a record. Thrilling right? Well, you’d be surprised, I was! I enjoyed this latest Vinyl Detective story, I 'Liked it' but-for me-it didn't reach the heights of earliest instalments in the series. I felt a nagging desire for something more. I was horrified that a character of Ben Aaronovitch's (a renowned crony of the author) Rivers of London Series had a cameo in this story. (Catch her if you can!) I’m trying hard not to imagine a Rivers of London/Vinyl Detective crossover. Fortunately, there was no magic involved other than the Vinyl Detective's stupendous serendipity. There are also a set of secondary characters, who were around at the time of Valerian’s suicide, who enter the story and give clues to the whereabouts of the missing child. There are some genuine ‘ laugh out loud’ aspects to the book and at one point, I actually found myself welling up. It is well written with believable characters who you find yourself loving and hating.

The Vinyl Detective series hooked me on the simple fact that the books are fun. The series follows an unnamed narrator­–referred to only as the Vinyl Detective (VD)­–who hunts down rare records for money. It would normally be a boring business full of charity shops and annoying record nerds, but somehow the VD always finds himself on a harrowing adventure. Every job he takes is full of surprise twists, close calls, and most often, murder. Or should I say, “MMMuuuuurrrduuurr?” I'm not a record collector - but through building and organising my library of physical books, ebooks and audio books over the years I have some sense of the outward nerdiness of the true obsessive collector, I can also appreciate the inner joy that the collector experiences when enjoying or adding to their collections. The true enthusiast - the one whose obsession brings real and heartfelt happiness - is usually far from being a nerd - they are in fact some of the coolest people on the planet. Not gritty, but who cares when it's so much fun, with suspects coming from everywhere - music industry, TV industry, even Helene's school as a child. The Vinyl Detective plunges into the world of death metal in his sixth adventure. Expect laughs, LPs, cats and the return of fan favourites, Nevada, Tinkler, Stinky Stanmer and more.

AC: “When I finished the book I realised it was overlong and I quite ruthlessly excised about 30,000 words. Once I’d done that I was satisfied with it. So it was ready about five years before it was actually published — but that’s just the nature of the business. As the second in a series, this book could easily have fallen short of its predecessor. I am pleased to say that it does not. The mystery of Valerian and the missing child provide a good base for the story. This charming mystery feels as companionable as a leisurely afternoon trawling the vintage shops with a good friend.”

Each new story also features a beloved pet. Of course, there is Turk and Fanny, the two cats who are adopted by The Vinyl Detective in the very first chapter of the series after his faithful cat Dizzy is run over (I almost stopped reading at this point). But with each story comes a new and beloved pet of someone. Each has it’s own personality and is a character in their own right. Some of these beloved pets face untimely deaths, usually at the hand of a bad guy, but some, thankfully, are given new and loving homes and new leases of life. The Vinyl Detective goes Scandi Noir? Yes please!”— Ben Aaronovitch, author of the Rivers of London series. RA: Is there much research involved for each book? How long did you work on Written in Dead Wax before you were satisfied that it was ready for publication? The Vinyl Detective and his crew solve the mystery of who is trying to kill-off members of a defunct, but influential all female punk band. The series’ obligatory vinyl McGuffin being the band’s rare first, withdrawn album.As with anything Second World War based, there is a dark evil lurking beneath, an evil which permeates through the ages and manages to put our heroes at risk in modern times. You’re obviously driven to produce material that takes a dim view of pedestrian, everyday lives as many of your fictional characters are caught-up in the most extraordinary circumstances, or even leading double lives. Can you speak to me about where the drive and imagination to bring these personalities to life comes from?

The music part was a fascinating addition and I liked to read about punk and the age of Sex Pistols. As with ‘Written in dead Wax’ the story begins simply with the Vinyl Detective finding a disc (well actually, his cat finds it), a rare disc, and the story begins from there.

His introduction to Nevada sparks his career as a detective, not only of vinyl but of the stories behind some of the rarest and sort-after vinyl in existence. As usual, the sort is narrated by the Vinyl Detective himself - a man who locates rare records for his clients, but also ends up solving crimes along the way. I went on to recommend this book to a friend of mine, only to find that she had already read it, and the two sequels and was totally in love with the series as I was.

It appeals to me as it is a classic adventure story where the main characters are pulled along and swept up into an adventure before they really know what is going on.The crime mysteries that the Vinyl Detective becomes embroiled in all have a music connection - and enough twists, turns and red-herrings to keep the reader fascinated. But in the end they are fairly standard "Midsommer Murder" type of crime stories. However it is the characters that provide the colour - and invariably each book provides one or two new additions to the stable.

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