Written in Dead Wax cover art

Written in Dead Wax

The Vinyl Detective, Book 1

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Written in Dead Wax

By: Andrew Cartmel
Narrated by: Ben Allen
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About this listen

He is a record collector and 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.

For example, 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 yet shadowy client. And so begins a painful and dangerous odyssey in search of the rarest jazz record of them all....

©2016 Andrew Cartmel (P)2016 W.F. Howes Ltd Cosy Crime Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Funny

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Critic reviews

"The Vinyl Detective is one of the sharpest and most original characters I've seen for a long time." (David Quantick)
"Marvellously inventive and endlessly fascinating." ( Publishers Weekly)
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I really enjoyed this story. It isn't a fast-paced, action-filled thriller, but an intelligent and intriguing story which just keeps leading you along at a comfortable pace and keeps you listening. I love the detail about the world of vinyl record collecting and the distinctly shady world of US jazz in the 40's and 50's. The characters are well-developed and the good guys are all believable and likeable. If I have a complaint, it is only a very minor one and that is that the way in which a key character emerges from a major event in the first part of the story to reappear in the second part is a little bit "and with one bound he was free!". Ben Allen's narration is excellent, well-paced and brings the characters to life. A very satisfying listen.

A satisfying slow-burner of a story

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Some really clever writing in parts but too contrived and convoluted to be credible or, unfortunately, really enjoyable

Lots of substance, let down by the plot

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Andrew Cartmel - has intimate knowledge of cats, coffee and jazz. Has only been faintly acquainted with women.

Having read three books in this series I assure you that they get better, though they are only trashy fun. Dead wax is the author finding his feet and can get a bit long winded and rambling at times. The female characters are the weakest and most annoying, and very much written in the male gaze.
But there are fun and funny moments, the main premise is different and intriguing enough to make it stand out from other mysteries. Though the biggest intrigue of all is how the main character can afford to live alone in a two bedroom apartment in London without a consistent income.
Production wise the narrator is okay, not how I imagined the character would sound and I’ve heard better performances. Also call me crazy, but with a audiobook about jazz, I expected jazz music? But no, no musical intro, not even before the title which was disappointing.

Cats and coffee

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The original idea of the book draws you in, but it loses its way and becomes overblown.
Narration is good throughout and the reader’s tone suits the character.

Intriguing idea, but loses its way.

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really enjoyed the story and learned alot about music and records in particular. brilliant read.

Amazing Musical Mystery

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I did enjoy this audio book and thought the narrator to be very talented. The characters are charming; particularly tinkler. But i felt like they dragged the story out too much.
The part with Nevada seemed like separate story to the one with Rhi. Felt like it could of been shorter and still with great twists.
Still worth a listen but you will need some patience

Worth a listen but tad too long

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read well but awful story. lots of ridiculous unbelievable moments and rubbish characters. very disappointing.

yawn

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Really enjoyable and easy to follow as sometimes new authors,New characters and new stories can take some remembering and getting used to

Written in dead wax

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I puzzled long and hard about the rating to give this listen. For me murder and humour doesn't really work - and yet I couldn't say I didn't thoroughly enjoy this listen. The book's bunch of characters are drawn so well they are vividly alive in my head and the banter between them is easy and amusing. It may have been a little drawn out - yet I can't say I find it difficult getting to the end. I'll play the next record and see how things go.

The Jury is still out

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Starting with the positives, the narrator was good and the initial concept was ok. The characters are fairly engaging and part 1 of the story was interesting and kept you engaged. After that it was all downhill, the plot developed more holes than a string vest and became needlessly contrived and implausible. The title gave away the twist and the characters were so slow and working out the 'code' I think a 3 year old could outpace them at hangman. The action became pointless and unrealistic, a real disappointment.

Needlessly contrived

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