Vinyl Detective
1 primary work • 4 total works
Book 5
Semi-retired god of rock guitar and local poseur Erik Make Loud has got himself a new girlfriend. Helene Hilditch - formerly known as Howlin' Hellbitch - of all-girl punk outfit Blue Tits is a mean guitarist, someone is trying to kill her.
With a rare pressing of the Blue Tits' first album to find, the Vinyl Detective and Nevada are called in to help. But this time the question is who isn't a suspect. With a long list of enemies, the people who could want Helene dead includes her ex-bandmates, their former producer turned record label mogul, the TV presenter that Helene got fired-even their old roadie could be in on it. As the killer's attempts on Helene's life get more and more ambitious the Vinyl Detective and Nevada are in a race against time to find the killer, before it's too late.
The Vinyl Detective plunges into the world of Italian movie soundtrack music in his eighth adventure that is sure to delight those who love whimsical British cosy crime. Expect laughs, LPs, cats and the return of fan favourites, Nevada, Tinkler, Stinky Stanmer and more.
Some of the greatest (and grooviest) music ever committed to vinyl has come out of Italy.
And some of the greatest music to come out of Italy can be found on the soundtracks composed for its lurid, gruesome and some might say nonsensical thrillers known as gialli. The maestros who composed for these include Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni, Armand Trovajoli...
...And Loretto Loconsole.
No one disputes that Loconsole was a genius, but was he also a murderer?
The composer's mistress was killed in 1969 while the pair were on location in Cool Britannia for the shoot of lurid giallo Murder in London - also known as Bikini of Blood and sometimes even The Black Dog Murders (don't ask). There wasn't enough evidence to lead to a prosecution, but the stink of scandal never went away. Loconsole's career never recovered, the mastertapes of his work were destroyed and he died with a dark stain on his legacy.
Now, his granddaughter Chloe has come to England to hire the Vinyl Detective. Not only does she want him to find immaculate vinyl copies of all her grandpa's soundtracks for a series of reissues she's putting together to resurrect his musical reputation, but she wants him to clear his name too.
Can the Vinyl Detective and the usual gang - Nevada, Tinkler and Agatha - find out the truth of what happened in Swinging London more than half a century ago? Or might there be someone out there who'd prefer the events of the past to be left well alone, and is prepared to kill to keep their secrets safely in the Sixties?