-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Vinyl Detective Mystery
by Andrew Cartmel
A London record collector and rare record hunter becomes hunted himself when he's hired to track down the rarest jazz LP.
He is a record collector - 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.
Like 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 (and rather sinister) shadowy client.
Given that he's just about to run out of cat biscuits, this gets our hero's full attention. So begins a painful and dangerous odyssey in search of the rarest jazz record of them all…
"Starred Review. This charming mystery feels as companionable as a leisurely afternoon trawling the vintage shops with a good friend." - Kirkus
"Marvelously inventive and endlessly fascinating" - Publishers Weekly
"This one is all about mood (jaunty and clever, in swinging, four-four time) and frame story (jazz history mixed with geeky references to Ortofon Rohmann cartridges and Roksan Xerxes turntables). Vinyl fans, this one's for you." - Booklist
This information about Written in Dead Wax was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Andrew Cartmel is a novelist and screenwriter. His work for television includes Midsomer Murders and Torchwood, and a legendary stint as Script Editor on Doctor Who. He has also written plays for the London Fringe, toured as a stand-up comedian, and is currently co-writing with Ben Aaronovitch a series of comics based on the bestselling Rivers of London books. He lives in London.
If you liked Written in Dead Wax, try these:
by Paul Alexander
Published 2025
A revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon
by Marc Masters
Published 2023
Marc Masters explores the history of the cassette tape from its invention in the early 1960s to today.
by Rachel Joyce
Published 2018
A love story and a journey through music, the exquisite and perfectly pitched new novel from the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy.
L.A. Women by Ella Berman
Two ambitious writers in 1960s LA face betrayal when one writes a novel based on the other's life.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
