Death in Fine Condition — Andrew Cartmel

A cast of lovable rogues faces fiendish puzzles and murderous villains in this “devilishly clever” love letter to Agatha Christie murder mysteries and classic whodunnits (Booklist).

The first quirky installment in a series of cozy crime capers from the author of the Vinyl Detective mysteries!

Cordelia knows books. An addict-turned-dealer of classic paperbacks, when she's not spending her days combing the charity shops and jumble sales of suburban London for valuable collector's items, she's pining for the woman of her dreams and nimbly avoiding her landlord's demands for rent. 

The most elusive prize of all, her white whale, has surfaced -- a set of magnificent, vintage Sleuth Hound crime novels. Gorgeous, and as rare as they come. Just one problem. They're not for sale. Still, that won't stop a resourceful woman like Cordelia . . . One burglary later, the books are hers. Unfortunately, the man she's just robbed turns out be one of London's most dangerous gangsters, and now he's on her trail and out for blood. 

Cordelia's best laid plans to pay the rent and woo the object of her affections start to fall apart, and she realizes she may have placed herself in the crosshairs of a villain torn straight from the pages of her treasured novels.