The Vinyl Detective--Flip Back, page 33
This meant that Tinkler’s copy of Wisht, which in the end we’d got for nothing—if by nothing one means at the risk of very nearly losing all our lives—was suddenly worth a solid, blue chip fortune. Right up there with an original vinyl pressing of Prince’s Black Album.
And with renewed sales of the Black Dog back catalogue, money flooded in to the surviving members of the band, Tom Pyewell and the widowed but now exonerated Jimmy Lynch. And also, and most especially, Maxine Shearwater. Since her father had been the main writer in the band, she also received the fat bonus of composer royalties.
So suddenly she was richer than ever.
Any enmity I’d felt towards Maxie had vanished when I saw the legacy she’d been landed with.
Also, she had saved all our lives.
But I came to positively admire her for what happened next. She dropped a financial bomb on herself by volunteering the information that her father had swindled the other members of the band out of a fortune when he had pretended to burn the cash and absconded with it. And she went on to announce that she wanted to pay back the money and was already in negotiations with Tom and Jimmy, and the Lorettos’ estate about coming to a settlement.
Max Shearwater’s trick with the money had been fraud, which is a crime. But when Max died, the crime died with him. And so did any possibility of criminal action against his next of kin, which was Maxine. However, Maxine was still exposed to civil action for any fraud her father had committed.
So a cynic might have said that coming clean and settling was just good business—heading off any lawsuits and striking a more advantageous deal. Plus it was a smart PR move, both pre-emptive and good publicity.
But I didn’t think it was like that at all.
I’d often wondered—as I’m sure everyone was supposed to—about Maxine’s tattoo. What exactly the snake was whispering in her ear.
Maybe he just told her to do the right thing.
EPILOGUE
One morning I was in the kitchen summoning the moral strength to make some real coffee when I heard a noise which at first I thought was Turk cursing at the big fat grey squirrel who sometimes invaded our back garden. It sounded very similar—vehement, impassioned, wordless and threatening major mayhem if circumstances were only slightly different.
But it wasn’t Turk, it was Nevada.
I went to see what was wrong.
She handed her phone to me without a word. On the screen was a tweet announcing a major new music festival, to take place next summer on Halig Island.
Called Drowning Man.
And under the auspices of Stinky Stanmer, of course.
Tickets available now.
I started making some wordless cursing sounds myself.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Once upon a time there was a band who really did burn a million dollars. A million pounds, in fact. But that band was The KLF—Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. And they burned the money on the island of Jura.
I hope they won’t mind me playing a variation on their theme.
As for Halig Island, you won’t find it on any maps because it is entirely my creation. However, readers may have noticed its resemblance in some respects to the real Holy Island—Lindisfarne. I was inspired by Lindisfarne, but I didn’t want to be constrained by that real island’s location, geology, terrain, inhabitants or—most especially—its tide tables.
AC
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to my old friend Gordon Larkin, who advised me on the British folk scene of the 1960s and gave me a reading list. To Alan Ross at Jazz House Records for keeping the vinyl flowing, and graciously consenting to a cameo in this book. To Miranda Jewess, my editor, for volunteering to work on this book even while she was on maternity leave. To Nick Landau at Titan for his support of the series. To Lydia Gittins, my fine publicist. To my agent John Berlyne for having my back. To Joanna Harwood, my hard working and fab new editor at Titan. To Lars Pearson and Christa Dickson, for their unfailing patience in helping me to source records from America. To Bill McBryde and Smudgy for providing me with both a rare old Art Pepper LP and a rare new friendship. My warmest thanks to the wonderful Thomas Wörtche, a fellow jazz lover, and Nicole Herrschmann, adroit press agent, both at Suhrkamp Verlag, and Susanna Mende, my splendid German translator. And to Joe Kraemer for writing the theme music for the Vinyl Detective LP —coming to a record store near you soon!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Cartmel is a novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the Vinyl Detective series, which was hailed as “marvellously inventive and endlessly fascinating” by Publishers Weekly. His work for television includes commissions for 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 a series of comics with Ben Aaronovitch based on the bestselling Rivers of London books. He lives in London with too much vinyl and just enough cats.
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
THE RUN-OUT GROOVE
A VINYL DETECTIVE NOVEL
ANDREW CARTMEL
His first adventure consisted of the search for a rare record; his second begins with the discovery of one. When a mint copy of the final album by Valerian—England’s great lost rock band of the 1960s—surfaces in a charity shop, all hell breaks loose. Finding this record triggers a chain of events culminating in our hero learning the true fate of the singer Valerian, who died under equivocal circumstances just after—or was it just before?—the abduction of her two-year-old son.
Along the way, the Vinyl Detective finds himself marked for death, at the wrong end of a shotgun, and unknowingly dosed with LSD as a prelude to being burned alive. And then there’s the grave robbing…
“Like an old 45rpm record, this book crackles with brilliance.” David Quantick
“This tale of crime, cats and rock & roll unfolds with an authentic sense of the music scene then and now – and a mystery that will keep you guessing.” Stephen Gallagher
TITANBOOKS.COM
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
VICTORY DISC
A VINYL DETECTIVE NOVEL
ANDREW CARTMEL
This time the search for a rare record ensnares our hero in a mystery with its roots stretching back to the Second World War. Three young RAF airmen played in a legendary band called the Flare Path Orchestra. When a precious 78rpm record of their music turns up in the most unexpected place the Vinyl Detective finds himself hired to track down the rest of their highly sought-after recordings.
But, as he does so, he finds that the battles of the war aren’t over yet—and can still prove lethal. While fighting for his life, our hero unearths dark secrets of treason and murder, and puts right a tragic miscarriage of justice. If all this sounds simple, it’s only because we haven’t mentioned drive-by shootings, murderous neo-Nazis, or that body in the beer barrel.
“An enthralling mystery with a wonderful gallery of grotesques.” Ben Aaronovitch
“One of the most innovative concepts in crime fiction for many years. Once you are hooked into the world of the Vinyl Detective it is very difficult to leave.” Nev Fountain
TITANBOOKS.COM
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Andrew Cartmel, The Vinyl Detective--Flip Back
