I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass [Paperback]

Paul Charles (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur (2004)
• ASIN: B000OT5YBW
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars British Police Procedural, December 19, 2008

By 

Lucinda Surber "Stop, You're Killing Me!" (New Mexico & California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass (Hardcover)

I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass (1997) introduces Christy Kennedy, the Irish-born Detective Inspector of Camden CID in North London, England. Kennedy's girl friend ann rea, a journalist who has adopted the k.d. lang/ee cummings name spelling style, asks him to look into the disappearance of a record producer who eventually turns up dead. Rock promoter Charles knows the music industry inside out, and presents a convincing and complex picture of corrupt schemes and cutthroat deals. Musical quotes from a wide variety of artists introduce each chapter; the title is from a Nick Lowe song. Kennedy is a humane and likable protagonist, always on the search for his next cup of tea. A combination of police procedural and classic whodunit, this clever novel will appeal to traditional mystery fans, especially those who enjoy Lovesey's Peter Diamond books.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/C_Authors/Charles_Paul.html

2.0 out of 5 stars Start of a series that I don't think I'll continue with, November 6, 2009

By 

Jeremy ""Retro TV Fan"" (Mobile, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass: An Inspector Christy Kennedy Mystery (Bloodlines) (Inspector Christy Kennedy Mysteries) (Paperback)

As I was reading through this book, about 2/3 of the way through my opinion of it was still "so-so". The overall story was just intriguing enough to get me to continue on and finish this book without abandoning it partway through. However, I don't think I will be reading any more of the DI Christy Kennedy mysteries. There were some problems, in my opinion, with the writer's prose. In some parts, the story just seemed to drag along.
First, I know this is a British Police Procedural, but it may have been just a bit too British Police. I mean, yeah they drink Tea, but Kennedy just seem too obsessed with Tea! And maybe it's just me not being British, but the Initials of Rank before the names (DI and WPC) seemed overused and kept throwing me out of the story trying to remember what each meant. As for his girlfriend "ann rea" doing the whole e.e. cummings thing and Kennedy always calling her by her full all-lowercase name, that was a cutesy quirk that got real old real fast. I guess the fact that Paul Charles worked in the music business explains the industry insider stuff (which worked overall) and the song lyric quotes for each chapter (which didn't work).

And finally *SPOILERS* - A murder committed with a complicated "Rube Goldberg" set-up and solved with a "Murder She Wrote" type goaded confession, have to say very unsatisfying conclusion!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong British police procedural, October 27, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass (Hardcover)

Hearing fire trucks in his neighborhood, Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy goes to look and sees that the home of Peter O'Brien, founder of Camden Tour Records, has burned to the ground. He later learns arson caused the blaze as someone placed an incendiary device inside a cassette holder. A few days later Kennedy's girlfriend reporter ann rea tells him that Peter has not been to his office for a few days nor called in, and this is very uncharacteristic of him.

Kennedy learns from Peter's secretary Mary that her boss was being blackmailed for record hyping. A paper trail shows that Peter's Access card was used on the train and at a restaurant. He also left a message to Mary claiming he is okay and will be in touch. Soon afterward, Peter's corpse is found in his Mayfair Mews Studio. The coroner claims he died twelve hours ago although he vanished five days ago. Christy finds that the victim had numerous enemies with varying motives, but which one would kill remains the question.

The protagonist makes I LOVE THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS a cut above the usual British police procedural as Christy empathizes with those he questions even those he considers a prime suspect. He understands that his inquiry could destroy the lives of innocent people by opening unrelated skeletons best left buried, but still does the job he is expected to do. The love between Christy and ann rea adds a humanizing element to the hero. This classy mystery will appeal to sub-genre fans for sure, but readers who welcome a strong well written tale will appreciate Paul Charles' fine novel.

Harriet Klausner