I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass: An Inspector Christy Kennedy Mystery (Bloodlines)

Peter O'Browne, managing director of Camden Town Records, is missing. Is his disappearance connected with a mysterious fire that ravages his north London home? And just who was using his credit card in darkest Dorset?
Although up to his neck in other cases - including a sex murder and a particularly vicious attack on an old woman - Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy and his team investigate, plumbing the hidden depths of London's music industry, turning up chart-rigging scams, blackmail and worse.

A fire at the home of Peter O'Browne, wunderkind of Camden Town Records, piques the interest of his neighbor, Inspector Christy Kennedy, even before O'Browne is reported missing--and turns up dead. It's not clear who killed him, but it is clear at the merest glance that O'Browne was no wunderkind: A music exec who had not so much an ear for what bands would sell as a nose for how to hype sales of whatever band he picked, he's left a lot of enemies in his wake. Which of them slung a rope over a handy ceiling timber and hoisted him up? A surprisingly traditional entry in the trendy Bloodlines series, this British writer's debut features an unbreakable alibi, a Rube Goldberg contraption for committing murder, and an investigator who actually follows police procedure. But the main attraction--inside dirt on the music industry--isn't likely to shock most American readers. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Published earlier this year in Britain, this exciting first novel introduces Inspector Christy Kennedy, a London detective with a passion for tea and justice. Christy makes quick work of a murder case involving an apparent domestic situation but finds the disappearance of a record company executive much more puzzling. The man's house burns the same weekend he goes missing, and he may have been blackmailed for manipulating chart hits. Kennedy's helpful journalist lover and music business background complete the scene, while brief chapters suit the taut style and efficient action. Strongly recommended.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.