Andrew KuchlingThe narrator of the mystery novel WRITTEN IN DEAD WAX (#1 in the Vinyl Detective series by former #DoctorWho script editor Andrew Cartmel) is a London-based collector of vinyl LPs, who manages a living from the occasional lucky find that he can sell for a few thousand pounds. (I don't think we are ever told the narrator's name or age, though I picture him as being in his 30s or 40s.) He specializes in jazz, and one day is hired by a mysterious woman named N. to locate a very rare 1950s record, "Easy Come, Easy Go" by a musician named Easy Geary and published by a tiny label that went bankrupt immediately afterwards. N. and the narrator go searching for the album, visiting vinyl stores, charity shops, and flea markets.
At this point I thought it was shaping up to be a cozy mystery, as the story was all about shopping, dinners, and describing the narrator's cats. But then it gets a bit harder-edged: someone else is following the same circuit of stores & sales, apparently looking for the same record, and they're increasingly violent. Then a helpful store owner is found beaten to death at his home, and this search for an album now has a body count. It's still far from being hard-boiled, but it's not all sunshine and pasta.
I don't care about vinyl LPs at all, but I still enjoyed this book a lot. The mystery is entertaining and , the supporting characters of N., Tinker, and the cats are all charming and memorable, and I'd happily read more in this series (which is now up to book #8).
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