Booked for life

Key to the Highway
Author: Richard Andrews

Stride ahead seekers of the adventurous life. All is revealed through the lexis of moods, curves, imagination, sensations, and fantasies as Richard Andrews gives you his Key to the Highway, warning you to advance in the quest of your own ends; perpetually sentient that those you encounter have ends of their own.

While for many, this 194 page adventure saga may be a good bedtime or airport read, by the time I reached the dedication page to the author’s muse Marie – the Key to his ‘advent’rous Song’, for me, this book needed a setting. A campfire. Cool climes. Friends to share the tale with as if it were my own. Something I wasn’t about to get at the tail end of the muggy monsoons in Mumbai. So as the last day of September waltzed into Bangalore at a temperature of about 18 degrees but with a wind chill factor that made it feel closer to 15 degrees and a brisk breeze blew beer cans and snack plates asunder, I snuggled up on a gorgeous terrace under a clear sky, chilled to the bone yet surrounded by the warmth of my people, my tribe, that rare inner circle who understand you well enough to allow you to cosy up with a book in the middle of a party and just occasionally interrupt you for titbits or to feed you. There I was enveloped by a mesmerising oasis of terrace lights, finally captivated by a book that has a certain je ne sais quoi, a sense of something other, another place and time, a listicle of myths and truths.

As a journalist, the author has lived a life filled with some pretty amazing stories. Having experienced things that most people have probably only read or thought about, the tales in this book, of protagonist Chris Hunter, are as astounding as they are baffling and can leave the reader a tad flummoxed at times. From his hometown Australia to the energetic Kuala Lumpur to exotic and noisy India to Bangkok, Borneo, Brazil and beyond, astride a motorcycle, aboard a ship, along dirt roads, and across blue skies, Chris’s story constantly echoes a line said to him at the end – “Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.”

The discovery of a mystical blues playing mouth organ (harp) breaches the borders of the fantastic and takes the reader on a trip; first with Chris and his band and later as he flies solo around the world. His motorcycle flies across roads that are physical and metaphorical in a seemingly impossible move toward mythological egalitarianism, as he encounters gods and goddesses, demons and angels, warriors and bullies from across the folkloric spectrum. Music doesn’t just pepper each event. It runs through them all like a thread through a needle such that everything that Chris does or faces is stitched with its colour.

Hedonism, profligacy, and different sensory experiences come alive within the pages of this book. Characters, albeit not written to be stopped and admired, force the reader to do so as they move as though they are enthused by the urgency that only turning a page to know more ushers in. There is fervour and craze in their attitudes, and they are stimulated by life’s moods and motivated by its rhythm and beat. Each chapter and each person who is a part of it has been crafted carefully, as grandiloquent scenes unfold in a manner which has happened naturally and without force.

As I turned page after page in that one sitting, and as the earth turned toward the sun, the one thing that stood out for me was that the open road is to the wanderer what the hearth is to the settler. For a character like Chris Hunter, the creative ember so fundamental to his work and life, is inseparable from the fact that he is constantly on the move. Everywhere and nowhere, at home in the world, he soaks up inspiration from the places he visits and in which, sometimes, he chooses to stay a while. The rest of the world looks askance at him, “Where have you been and where are you bound?” This world and all its labels are calling. I’m sure he’d love to answer. But he’s moving so fast, he can’t hear a thing! In Key to the Highway Richard Andrews has narrated an almost autobiographical tale; where fate or rather its more flamboyant relative destiny persistently taunts both protagonist and reader alike with Smirnoff’s iconic campaign – “Life is calling. Where are you?”

*Available for purchase on Amazon India

(Published in musicunplugged.in on October 15, 2023)

© Ayesha Dominica

The Paperback Sleuth – Death in Fine Condition
Author: Andrew Cartmel

It’s been a good three weeks of Cozy Mysteries. The Indian summer generally finds me catching up on old favourites like Eric Segal’s Acts of Faith – read for the umpteenth time or a rediscovery of Bono on Bono by Michka Assayas or a new horde of Mills n Boon Intrigue or Paranormal. But since our Spring-Summer TV viewing leaned heavily toward British Crime dramas from Father Brown to Grantchester to Harry Wild and more, my book hunting turned toward the cozy mystery genre of novels behind these dramas. And a treasure trove did I discover.

The latter half of May had me devouring Alexia Gordon’s Gethsemane Brown Series – 5 books (eagerly awaiting more in the series), Sarah Fox’s Music Lover’s Mystery – 3 Books, Esme Addison’s Enchanted Bay Mysteries – 2 Books, Terri Reid’s Mary O’Reilly’s Paranormal Mysteries – 20 Books, and many others lined up for the coming weeks.

But June 6th was a reading date much awaited as Andrew Cartmel’s The Paperback Sleuth – Death in Fine Condition was about to make an appearance on my eBook shelf. As soon as Amazon listed it as available, I swiped it up. I didn’t get to hit the Books app till June 9th late evening at a bar pulsating with loud Friday night Bollywood Beats and finished it in two evening sittings between Friday and then Saturday at my favourite pub in my area – The Den Bandra, while Dj hubby was spinning some amazing English retro tunes from the 70s and 80s. Great soundtracks for a truly delightful read.

So before I get immersed in Clive Cussler’s Fire Strike with Mike Maden, I wanna talk about Andrew Cartmel’s latest sleuth – The Paperback Sleuth. A hideously delectable character that one can love to hate and hate to love, Cordelia had me avidly following her exploits from the opening sentence. Cartmel has created a character that is beautifully sinful and deliciously depraved. Cameos from his The Vinyl Detective Series add much depth to the main story like your favourite TV series crossover. And I must admit, like in the defence of any favourite already-watched or -read character, I did get angry with this little slip of a first book girl calling my much loved VD series characters some not so nice names. And then had a good loud laugh at myself over this defensive behaviour. Each character in this new series is so well nuanced you can’t help but want to know more. The places and spaces described will have you right there in the room or on the street with them.

Books have always excited me. And the Paperback Sleuth had me diving into a world of book covers and spines and types that took me back to childhood summers of rifling through my grandparents library and teenage ones with the many evenings spent at the Youth Social Service centre’s reading room as well as Diwali Vacations at my Parish Library sifting through the many books donated by parishioners hunting for gold and then rearranging the rest on shelves for everyone else to read. Death in Fine Condition not only resurrected the years I’ve spent buried in or surrounded by books but also the thrill of discovering an edition for which you’ve been long hunting. While my book hunting has been nowhere as unscrupulous as Cordelia’s, her delight at procuring her hoards definitely matches mine.

Before you begin to ask if Cordelia is just another female character written badly by a man, let me stop you right there. Andrew Cartmel has written this lead delightfully well. At no point in time did I ever stop to wonder if this character was written by a man or a woman. She is as true to life as a writer can make a character. Her motivations may be suspect but her intentions are clear. I must add, and definitely not as a side note, the adult scenes, the sexploits, sexcapades, call them what you will, are a treat to read whether you’re straight or gay. Rambunctious and all get out as a full moon, I say!

There’s murder. There’s motivation. And love at first sight. And the seedy criminal underground. And a kooky landlord with a handy secret. And great cars. A chase. A church. Lots of books. And… and… well if that doesn’t have you heading to Amazon or my house to read the book, I don’t know what will. Go on. Get yourself a copy. Or come on over. It’s the perfect cozy read for the onset of our monsoons.

*Available for purchase on Amazon India

© Ayesha Dominica

(Published in musicunplugged.in on July 2, 2023)