The Big Rewind

December 21, 2015
Heads up, vinyl-loving hipsters: Cudmore's debut is for you. Jett Bennett is a young New York City temp who came to the big city with dreams of becoming a music journalist. Soon she's griping, "I wish someone had told me print was dead." The rhythm of her life in her funky section of Brooklyn is disrupted when she discovers the battered body of a neighbor, and she sets out to find the killer. In the course of her investigation, Jett begins reexamining her own life. She encounters a steady stream of friends, acquaintances, and hangers-on, but music is the glue that holds the story together: the Psychedelic Furs, Warren Zevon, Tom Cochrane, Talking Heads, Hall and Oates, Cindi Lauperâand this does not even come close to listing all the musicians mentioned in the song-laced text. Cudmore has preserved for all time a slice of current, hipster Brooklyn.

Starred review from October 15, 2015
The clues to a Brooklyn murder unspool on a mixtape in what might be a new mystery subgenre--the hipster cozy. When Jett Bennett finds her downstairs neighbor, KitKat, murdered, she vows to find out who would bludgeon the party promoter to death. Clues in a mixtape sent by a secret admirer (and mistakenly delivered to Jett's place) lead to past loves and leave Jett toggling between detective work and revisiting her own romantic past. Debut novelist Cudmore balances the crime and romance well and infuses the story with the exhilaration of shared musical tastes and the way they can amplify emotions. Short chapters are each given song titles that comment on what's to come. Humor about the "east of Williamsburg" neighborhood where Jett sublets her grandmother's apartment is biting but affectionate--the effort required for her to find a cassette player when everyone has thrown over CDs for the polar extremes of vinyl and digital playlists offers a nice snapshot of this vegan, gluten-free world. Jett's quests for justice and a decent boyfriend keep things suspenseful until the inevitable reveal of whodunit; it's the story's weakest point, but that's normal for a cozy, where life and death can hinge on a good brownie recipe, quilt pattern, or song selection for karaoke. Jett is adorkable, a striver stuck at a dead-end temp job whose romantic fantasies lean toward Jack McBrayer and Adam Scott; her best friend, Sid, has McBrayer's Southern charm, but when he falls for a stripper at a local club, her hopes are dashed. Well, briefly dashed--this is a cozy, remember. Stories of the murdered KitKat paint a portrait of a neighborhood fixture who was loved by all but known well by only a few and add depth and soul to the story. By the end, readers will also mourn her passing. A mystery that will inspire more than one playlist and, hopefully, a sequel.

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January 1, 2016

Jett Bennett's music journalism career hasn't taken off yet, so she temps at a PI firm while subletting her grandmother's rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn. When she tries to deliver a misdirected package containing a mixtape to her neighbor KitKat, she finds a howling cat, burning pot brownies, a rolling pin, and a very bloody, very dead KitKat. KitKat's sister asks Jett to investigate; Jett begins with the mysterious cassette--after she unearths that relic called a tape deck. Along the way, Jett revisits some of the music and ephemera in her own "boyfriend box," deals with the ghosts of her romantic past, and pines after her vinyl record-loving friend, Sid. VERDICT Cudmore's debut is a murder mystery, romance, coming-of-age story, and exercise in 1980s and 1990s music appreciation. The song-titled chapters are a nice touch, and the author adds wry humor and realistic emotion to angsty Jett's thoughts. However, the author packs many characters and subplots into less than 300 pages, which might set some readers spinning, just like a record. Recommended for Generation Xers who like fast-paced, hip, and seminostalgic reads.--Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

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