The main character of this inventive and original mystery/thriller is a jazz fan. Also, a cat fan. Not only is he a jazz fan but he mainly insists on vinyl records. He makes a living from searching out rare vinyl records in charity shops, jumble sales and record fairs. The ones he doesn’t wish to keep, he ‘flips’. That is, he makes a hopefully large profit selling them on his website. Some time before the story begins, he had some business cards printed proclaiming himself The vinyl Detective. This leads to a beautiful stranger showing up at his front door one morning to offer him a job. He needs to find a very rare record and the stranger; a Miss N Warren insists on accompanying him on his search. It seems there are others after this record, and they are dangerous. With a wonderful cast of characters, and an exciting plotline ranging from South West London to California with questions to be answered, like why is the record so important, who is Miss N Warren working for and what does the N stand for, this is a must read. It is the first in a series of, so far, four novels. All recommended.
Review – Written in Dead Wax by Andrew Cartmel
