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Death in Fine Condition

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Death in Fine Condition

By: Andrew Cartmel
Narrated by: Olivia Dowd
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About this listen

Cordelia knows books. An addict-turned-dealer of classic paperbacks, when she's not spending her days combing the charity shops and jumble sales of suburban London for valuable collector's items, she's pining for the woman of her dreams and nimbly avoiding her landlord's demands for rent.

The most elusive prize of all, her white whale, has surfaced—a set of magnificent, vintage Sleuth Hound crime novels. Gorgeous, and as rare as they come. Just one problem. They're not for sale. Still, that won't stop a resourceful woman like Cordelia… One burglary later, the books are hers. Unfortunately, the man she's just robbed turns out be one of London's most dangerous gangsters, and now he's on her trail and out for blood.

Cordelia's best laid plans to pay the rent and woo the object of her affections start to fall apart, and she realises she may have placed herself in the crosshairs of a villain torn straight from the pages of her treasured novels.

©2022 Andrew Cartmel (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd Amateur Sleuths Cosy Detective Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Suspense

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All stars
Most relevant  
I was really looking forward to this book but sadly, it's disappointing.
As a stand-alone, it would get maybe a 4, as a part of a series, it gets 2. There is an awful lot of padding and I would much rather stick with the old gang than get to know Stinky's sister. Hopefully, we'll get back to the groove with the next instalment.

A letdown

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I’ve read a few of the authors “Vinyl Detective” stories and was surprised to find the change of both writing style and character. A simple tale, light but fun and beautifully described. A great beach read

An interesting change of style and gender

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I tried to warm to Cordelia but I couldn’t. I thinks she’s almost as loathsome and self-centred as her brother in her own way. I love the Vinyl Detective and it was interesting to bump into familiar characters, though I didn’t like Cordelia’s fixation with Agatha, especially as she was unaware of what was going through Cordelia’s head. I’m most of the way through this (3 hours left) but I’ve just had enough, I really don’t care what happens to Cordelia.

I just didn’t like the main character

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I enjoyed this book and liked how it interconnected with the characters from the Vinyl Detective series.
Looking forward to more.

Interesting take on crime fiction

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This had the feel of a ten hour short story! Not a lot actually happened but there was much detail along the way. It was very much an Andrew Cartmel novel(la?) in the Vinyl Detective style and at times had me chuckling because he was writing at his funniest and his best. Lots of alliteration, lots of ironic observances etc. At other times though, the strangeness of the central character having such delusional morals and self belief was quite unsettling, since you needed to buy into her motivations and justification to keep going. Eventually I did, and by the end there were some redeeming characteristics starting to develop for her. I seem to remember that Nevada was not an entirely sympathetic character in the first Vinyl book and she is likeable now, so maybe the same will happen with Cordelia.

There was so much to like though that I have to come out on the positive side and say that I will look forward to the next one, especially if it brings the Vinyl Det characters back into it, like this one does. The whole Vinyl Det series is like 'The Beiderbecke Affair' in tone and content, with implausible coincidences and irritable but likeable characters all over the place. I'm happy to suspend my disbelief when the effect is as enjoyable as this. The downside though, is that sometimes the unpredictability becomes predictable, so I suspect we will have to endure CC again because his story was rather weakly left unresolved.

A number of other reviews for this book have been less favourable than mine, it seems. I admit that I was looking forward to another Vinyl Detective book but I am happy to report that having the characters appear in cameos here treads water well enough and maybe allows Andrew Cartmel to keep the characters alive and keep things fresh before returning to centralise them at some point in the next couple of years. Extend the Vinyl Det universe with another Cordelia book, please.

Great at times, very odd at others.

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Poor narration, the narrator can’t even pronounce ‘Bauhaus’ correctly. The central character is unlikeable. I’m two hours in, can’t be bothered to finish it.

Bring back the Vinyl Detective

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I found the story entertaining. It got me through some rather tedious tidying up. It's a bit of lighthearted fun and I look forward to more in the same series.

Enjoyable

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Really enjoyed the vinyl detective books so I thought I’d give this a go Characters crossover Well and storyline was enjoyable Will download the next one before I make my final decision, But the fact I’m getting the next book kinda says it all

Tires in very well with the vinyl detective

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I like how Andrew Cartmel writes. Naturally. I expected, like someone else, a stand alone novel and was pleased to meet up with characters from The Vinyl Detective at intervals. Giving us a look from a different angle at the people. I thought more was going to be made of the links from the last couple of books, but that didn’t happen. I was put off on reading the synopsis about Cordelia being a thief. You usually like to admire the primary character in the books you read but I must admit I warmed to her as the story progressed. The main point to latch onto I think, if that’s the object of this sideways step, is that you really don’t know people until you have something in common. I agree there seemed to be a considerable amount of bathtime fun. At least she was a very clean heroine. On the whole I enjoyed it, if not quite on the edge of my seat as with his previous books, it was fun, and well read.

The bigger picture.

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I love the Vinyl Detective. This was boring in comparison. I cared little for Cordelia’s bath time habits, and the story waffled a lot - a bit like the Scandi- Noir novel that was so reviled. It holds promise but needs more story and less rambling

A bit dull

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