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 Crime 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)
All stars
Most relevant
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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Clever story, great characters and excellent narration. One that I'd recommend to others looking for some good entertainment!

Loved it

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enjoyed it by the end but only because i listened at 1.25 speed soooo slow

good but not great

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Really refreshing story that doesn't require any vinyl, sorry record, knowledge to enjoy. Good listen

A good time

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Record collecting may appear to be an unlikely hotbed of murder, mystery and intrigue, but prepare to be surprised.
Beautifully narrated by Ben Allen you immediately relax into a consistently paced story that unfolds with utterly unexpected twists.
I loved the characters. This is the first story where I have genuinely been upset by the turn of events and the fate that befalls a FICTIONAL character. What is going on?
It may seem long, but there's no padding, no irritating distractions from this world that you're drawn into. Yes, I'm sure if you studied it hard enough you could pick some holes, but the vast majority of questions are addressed, and it is fiction after all, and thoroughly absorbing fiction too.

My only disappointment was that the subsequent books in the series have a different narrator.

Absolutely loved it

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