I LOVE THE SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS

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.