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  • Written in Dead Wax

  • The Vinyl Detective, Book 1
  • By: Andrew Cartmel
  • Narrated by: Ben Allen
  • Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,761 ratings)

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Written in Dead Wax cover art

Written in Dead Wax

By: Andrew Cartmel
Narrated by: Ben Allen
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Summary

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

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)

What listeners say about Written in Dead Wax

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Massive plot holes and unbelievable characters

The narrator was talented, and is one of the few good things about this audiobook.

I thought the premise sounded fun, and I get that it's supposed to be semi-comical, but the plot just makes no sense. Even after the motivations of certain characters are explained at the end, I still don't get it; there's just no logic to it.

Honestly, the hardest things to believe were the female characters - how on earth two stereotypically interchangeable beautiful and sexy women would want to sleep with the smug and frankly boring protagonist, I have no idea.

Apart from the narrator, the only other good thing about this was the cats. I think the writer understands cats much better than he understands women.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Pleasant relaxed listen

This was a nice book to listen to. Quite long but well written and narrated with well developed laid back characters and a slightly off the wall plot involving the search for a series of LP's that lead to the end of a mystery. A few twists and turns and a narrative that wants you to go to the end. Had me searching the internet for more info. on the techie hi-fi aspects in the novel. Will certainly go for the next in the series. Might be handy to have a pencil and paper ready to see if you can crack the code before the Vinyl Detective does.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An unexpected treat

I got this book as part of a 2-4-1 deal, and couldn’t find anything else that took my fancy...finally got around to trying it out, and loved the narration from the get go. The story itself flags a little in the middle of you’re not an epic jazz or vinyl fan (I’m not...), but I loved the characters so I stuck with it, and I’m delighted I did! I am looking forward to the next in the series now - roll on my next credit!!!!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Slow but enjoyable

Narrator was a little dry at first but seemed to get better. Plot felt very drawn out in places, the book could be about a third shorter but I liked it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

No Man Should Ever Say ‘Panties’

Immediately hit rock bottom in the horrendously cringe worthy sex scene.
Story is actually quite intricate and interesting but goes on for so long with numerous useless detours that it became a struggle getting to the end.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

There's always a Side B

Wow what a yarn started this about months ago, whilst juggling some other novels. Only realisdd on 2nd listen that Id only kistenedvto side A or half the novel. I did think at the time that there werea few loose strings but it felt like a happy ending at the time. Imagine my surprise when Side 2 started. Anyway without any spoilers, this is a great book. Loved the characters, thecauthors kniwkede of music music equpment and the London vinyl scene. And especialky his fondness for and description of the cats. Narration is brilliant too. All in all a good story and highly recommended listening.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Performance a little dodgy

Great story, really enjoyable even though it feels like two books rather than one. Only complaint is the pauses between sentences in the performance, every time it's about half a second too long, gets very frustrating.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Give it a spin !

Real fun - loved it - kept me listening well read and well written - enjoy!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ultimately Disappointing

I wanted to like this but a mediocre performance combined with tedious, unbelievable characters and plot twists spoilt this listening.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Badly chosen narstor

The story is gentle and entertaining but the narrator hit completely the wrong tone and style. For me, it was too bad to get past the first chapter.
I hope that other people are more tolerant than me.

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