The Vinyl Detective: The Run-Out Groove

British author Cartmel’s entertaining second record-spinning mystery finds the eponymous hero, otherwise unnamed, living in London with Nevada Warren, who hired him in the series debut, 2016’s Written in Dead Wax. When John Drummond, who likes to be called Colonel, and Drummond’s companion, self-styled journalist Lucille Tegmark, call on the vinyl detective, they first express interest in a rare 45 rpm single, “All the Cats Love Valerian,” which they spotted on his blog. But this is just the lead-up to what the bickering couple really want: to hire him to investigate the disappearance of the infant son of Drummond’s notorious singer sister, Valerian, who committed suicide in 1967 around the time the boy went missing. Encouraged by Nevada, the vinyl detective takes on the case. Cartmel treats music and records seriously, plays his strange characters for laughs, and provides a bit of danger and some unexpected twists in this affectionate nod to the vagaries of rock stardom. [em]Agent: Tom Witcomb, Blake Friedmann Literary, Film & TV Agency (U.K.). (May) [/em]