Review - The Vinyl Detective: Flip Back by Andrew Cartmel

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Flip Back (The Vinyl Detective, 4)
Andrew Cartmel
Titan Books, 14 May 2019
PB, 425pp

I'm very grateful to Titan for sending me a free copy of Flip Back for review.

"He's the Vinyl Detective, a private detective with a very special set of skills: no matter how rare, no matter how elusive, if you're looking for a record he's the man to find it for you..."

This is the fourth adventure of The Vinyl Detective (we still don't know his name), his partner Nevada, and friends Tinkler (well, I say friend...) and Clean Head. Tracking down rare records is only the beginning: invariably the search leads them into danger, shady dealings, unsolved mysteries and danger.

I should declare myself from the start: I just love this series and I'm pleased it's still going strong (after all it does seem an unlikely premise...) Reading Flip Back reminded why I like these books so much. First, there's the strong setting. While the stories range all over the place - the Detective has visited Japan and the US, not to mention Kent - they are centred on London, display a familiarity with streets, frustrating London travel and have a certain London sensibility, an irreverence, a knowingness. That's where the Detective is at home, scouting record dealers and charity shops and working his dodgy contacts. It's not exactly the London of Holmes and Watson but as these stories open I always feel something of the same thrill, the same eagerness to know what's afoot, as I do read Conan Doyle.

I also like the portrayal of a group of friends who, despite their bickering, try to look out for each other in a crisis (even if, realistically, nobody is actually a hero here) and who are just... well, convincing. And of course the books are full of crises - described with a certain note of dark comedy, for sure, but, even so, often pretty desperate crises. The gang have grown together through the series. And they frequently have fun on their investigations, too, so that expeditions out of London to survey a location or interview a witness are just as much daytrips and likely to include a nice meal or an afternoon in a pub garden (which gives plenty of scope to discuss the case, of course).

Overall, I think these books have just the right balance between action, mystery and... well, life, I suppose. I like reading about life!

Anyway, back to Flip Back. As with the previous books, Cartmel keeps the story humming along. It all starts off with Tinkler this time, of all people, retaining our hero to track down a rare record. It's the first version of Wisht, the last album by notorious folk-rock group Black Dog (you must remember them? Maybe they were before your time).

The version they had withdrawn from sale and destroyed. Not the re-release - the original version. The one with the flip back cover...

Just why the record is so important to Tinkler* that he's actually prepared to pay good money to cover the costs of the search doesn't really matter. In these books, the quest is the thing, invariably bringing mayhem and exploring the shady margins of musical history. Sure enough, someone is soon following the gang, someone determined that the record won't be found - and who's prepared to take extreme steps to make sure it doesn't.  In previous books, there's been some hint or clue about the villain based on who approached the Detective in the first place and what their story was. Here, though, we know nothing about why Tinkler's sudden interested in Wisht has led to... well, to what it leads to.  There's only the record, and Black Dog (named after the Barghest, the spectral hound whose presence heralds a death).

Inevitably, then, the story takes the gang deep into the history of Black Dog. The group were famous for burning a million dollars on a remote island in the North Sea and after they split, most of them settled down there. To get to the bottom of what happened - and track down that missing record - we will need to follow to Halig Island (evading the ever annoying Stinky Stanmer). This being a Vinyl Detective book, and as Tinkler is financing the operation, it proves to be a stay with plenty of good food and fine wine (I love the way the Detective insists on only the best coffee, and Nevada wields her command of wine like a weapon: see a particular episode set in a pub called the Alexander von Humbolt, where knowledge of wine - or not - is used to convey so, so much about a character).

And there is no shortage of danger, double-dealing or unlikely turns.

Overall, Flip Back continues to do what these books do so well. It doesn't bring anything new or very different to the series, but that wasn't what I was looking for. Basically an enjoyable crime-tinged romp in the company of some sharp and enjoyable characters.

*Something to do with impressing a woman.