Reviews

The Paperback Sleuth--Death in Fine Condition by Andrew Cartmel

Only show reviews with written explanations

itsonmytbr's review

5.0

Cordelia is not the sort of narrator you necessarily like, or even root for. She’s devious and scheming and absolutely obsessed with herself. She’s fascinating. I didn’t care if good things happened to her, I’d even have been happy to see her in prison just so I could watch her interact with that environment, but I didn’t want to stop listening to her. There could be less masturbating in her landlord’s bathtub, but the constant coitus interruptus is pretty funny.

Paperbacks are the name of the game. Everyone is looking for fine condition crime paperbacks from the 60s. Cordelia wants them enough to set up scams to get them, and later even to housebreak and steal them. She thinks nothing of selling her stolen books and introducing her client and her burglary victim. She’s monstrous and fantastic. She’s in big trouble.

The only things Cordelia cares about other than her paperbacks are weed and a Woman she has seen at book sales. Weed is the plot device that started this book really going, and I’m hoping The Woman will start the next one. This is definitely going to be a series. Might even be a series already, but I haven’t looked that far into it yet and In Fine Condition stands on its own. Anyway series fans seem to hate this one and I liked it so I think readers are better off starting here.

threehourzsleep's review against another edition

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4.0

probably a 3.6 or 3.7 - rounding up.

carol8's review against another edition

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4.0

"Paperbacks had been conceived as a disposable medium. The idea was that people would buy them, read them, and throw them away. Indeed, that was the way some people treated them-- the first thing they did was open them so ruthlessly that they broke the spine of the poor little book.

But Cordelia could read a paperback and leave it looking like it had never been touched."

dabrit's review against another edition

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3.0

Sorry, really loved all the Vinyl Detective series. Not so much this one. Not sure why not. But the MC is not hugely likeable and the story kinda dragged on. Not sure I will be reading any follow on stories in this series

kansas_girl's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This weirdo mystery should satisfy anyone’s desire for an off-the-beaten-path, oddball, slightly amoral, quirky protagonist. Cordelia is a “paperback sleuth,” a connoisseur of vintage crime novels with their artistic and occasionally lurid cover art. When she discovers a complete set of “Sleuth Hound” paperbacks with their famous cover designs, she must have them—-by hook or by crook or by cat burglary. If you have ever lusted after books, first editions, salacious book covers, or crime noir, you will enjoy this unconventional character and Cartmel’s latest reinvention of pop culture into murder.