Friday, June 17, 2022

Reading: The Vinyl Detective - Victory Disc (Cartmel)



I've read two books in the standout "Vinyl Detective" series ― of which there are six. Author Andrew Cartmel knows how to tell and resolve a mystery in a believable fashion, which means this reader has been pulled in and entertained each time.

As I spin book number three, Victory Disc, my affection for the series' regular characters grows. We've all known someone like Jordon Tinkler, and many of us have been guardians, or staff, to fabulous felines such as Turk and Fanny. It's this sense of the familiar that is making my journey through English charity shops and small town streets and alleyways all the more fun. (A certain beer keg waterfront roll is brilliant.)

How it all starts: After Fanny (who else?) discovers a rare "Victory Disc" in an old audio speaker cabinet, our phonograph record-preserving heroes, the Vinyl Detective and his girl Nevada, are swept into a story of big band music and a World War II-era murder mystery. (You see, cats are not useless, even if their digging might put you in some danger.)

There is that Cartmel humour, which helps keep any darkness at bay....

"But, she didn't return. Staring into her empty room the next morning Nevada said, 'You don't suppose she and Tinkler...' 

'Stranger things have happened.' "


Postscript: I've reviewed the first two books in the "Vinyl Detective" series, Written in Dead Wax and The Run-Out Groove.

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