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

Paul Charles (Author)

Book Description

Series: Inspector Christy Kennedy Mysteries | Publication Date: January 1, 1997

When Peter O'Browne, managing director of Camden Town Records disappears, a fire ravages his north London home and his credit card is used in Dorset, DI Christy Kennedy is called in to investigate. As well as investigating a possible murder, the DI and his team find themselves turning up chart rigging scams and blackmail.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Musical references of the pop persuasion dot this tasty first mystery by a noted British rock promoter like raisins in a good rice pudding. Starting with the title (a Nick Lowe song), sounds and quotes (by Don Williams, Paul Simon, ABBA, and Laurie Anderson) follow North London police inspector Christy Kennedy through his investigation of murder and arson in the recording industry. Paul Charles lives in and obviously loves the Camden Town neighborhood he writes about with shrewd affection ("There's nothing like staring down the barrel of a revolver to give a person a clear head. Usually such sharpness of vision occurs on early walks on Primrose Hill..."). The neighborhood itself becomes an important character in his lively, detail-rich story about Kennedy's search for a missing record tycoon. Even if you've never been to London or listened to Nick Lowe, you should enjoy I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass.

From Publishers Weekly

In British author Charles's first Insp. Christy Kennedy mystery (published in the U.K. in 1997), the humane and vulnerable CID detective's love interest, reporter ann rea, asks him to look into the disappearance of a record producer, who eventually turns up dead. Kennedy and his subordinates set about conducting routine interviews and following up obvious leads grounded in the dead man's checkered career. Charles convincingly melds the growing romantic relationship between Kennedy and rea, complete with insecurities and the baggage of previous partners, with a classic whodunit plot. A music manager and promoter, the author does a fine job of depicting the cutthroat deals and corrupt schemes rampant in the modern music industry. Americans familiar with payola scandals will find the more sophisticated methods of manipulating record sales fascinating. Fans of Lovesey's Peter Diamond series in particular, and traditional mystery fans in general, will welcome Charles's successful integration of an impossible crime element into a contemporary police procedural with a logical and clever twist ending.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Do Not Pr (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1899344160
• ISBN-13: 978-1899344161
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,887,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

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