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JP Kinkaid Chronicles #1
Rock & Roll Never Forgets
The last thing the members of Hall of Fame rock & roll band Blacklight need to hear is that ruthless tabloid biographer Perry Dillon is planning a tell-all history of their group. The issue hits hardest for English ex-pat guitarist JP Kinkaid; with his history of heroin addiction and deportation, his estranged wife, and his long-term relationship with a girl he met when she was a teenager, JP has the most to lose. Dealing with his multiple sclerosis doesn’t make things any easier.
When he sits down with Dillon, JP’s main concern is to preserve both his own privacy and that of Bree Godwin, his fiercely protective longtime girlfriend. But it’s obvious from the first question that Dillon is digging deep. And he’s not planning to stop until he hits rock bottom.
Dillon’s looking for trouble, the kind of trouble that garners publicity and sells books. What he finds is the kind of trouble someone will go to any length to cover up, and that includes murder.
Opening night at Madison Square Garden encores with a corpse in JP’s dressing room, leaving Blacklight in the middle of a media frenzy---and Bree as homicide lieutenant Patrick Ormand’s prime suspect.
Rock & Roll Never Forgets, the first JP Kinkaid mystery, offers an all-access pass to how musicians work, live, and love.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published July 8, 2008
1 person is currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Grabien
29 books26 followersDeborah Grabien is a world traveller, retired medieval historian, and lifelong rocker chick. Her short fiction, reviews, and essays can be seen in many diverse venues.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 17, 2008
I must confess to a certain disgruntlement when an author abandons a series I love to begin another. I had this reaction even more strongly when I learned that Deborah Grabien's Haunted Ballad series was at an end after only five books, to be replaced by a series featuring a rock guitarist. Like most people my age, I'm familiar with the Beatles, the Stones and Cream, but rock'n'roll has never been my major musical interest; I'm more into folk music and the Great American Songbook. So I wasn't sure I'd like the JP Kinkaid series Ms. Grabien was starting.
Then I read the first in the series. It differs from the Haunted Ballad books in many ways, but two things are the same: the love of music and musicians, and the quality of the writing.
Whereas the Haunted Ballad books were told in the third person, from multiple points of view, Rock & Roll Never Forgets is written in the first person from the point of view of John "JP" Kinkaid, so that we see what he sees, hear what he hears, and know what he thinks and feels. An aging rock star with multiple sclerosis, Kinkaid lives with his longtime companion Bree Godwin in San Francisco, when he's not on tour with his band Blacklight. The two are not married, because Kinkaid feels he cannot divorce his long-estranged wife back in London.
In between European and American tours, the band learns that it has become the latest focus (or victim) of a particularly sleazy unauthorized biographer. As they all have things in their pasts they'd just as soon were forgotten, no one is happy about this, but Kinkaid is a bit surprised at Bree's reaction, and even more so when she offers to come along on the American tour. Before long, though, he's wishing she were safe at home in San Francisco. Bree finds a murder victim in JP's dressing room and becomes the prime suspect. Her occasional disappearing acts don't help, and health issues keep cropping up for Kinkaid. On the way to the crime's solution, JP learns a lot about himself, Bree, and his wife Cilla. While enjoying the story, the reader also learns a lot about MS, the rockstar lifestyle, and the importance of music to true musicians. I will definitely be looking for more JP Kinkaid novels, even as I wish that the Haunted Ballad series could have continued.
Then I read the first in the series. It differs from the Haunted Ballad books in many ways, but two things are the same: the love of music and musicians, and the quality of the writing.
Whereas the Haunted Ballad books were told in the third person, from multiple points of view, Rock & Roll Never Forgets is written in the first person from the point of view of John "JP" Kinkaid, so that we see what he sees, hear what he hears, and know what he thinks and feels. An aging rock star with multiple sclerosis, Kinkaid lives with his longtime companion Bree Godwin in San Francisco, when he's not on tour with his band Blacklight. The two are not married, because Kinkaid feels he cannot divorce his long-estranged wife back in London.
In between European and American tours, the band learns that it has become the latest focus (or victim) of a particularly sleazy unauthorized biographer. As they all have things in their pasts they'd just as soon were forgotten, no one is happy about this, but Kinkaid is a bit surprised at Bree's reaction, and even more so when she offers to come along on the American tour. Before long, though, he's wishing she were safe at home in San Francisco. Bree finds a murder victim in JP's dressing room and becomes the prime suspect. Her occasional disappearing acts don't help, and health issues keep cropping up for Kinkaid. On the way to the crime's solution, JP learns a lot about himself, Bree, and his wife Cilla. While enjoying the story, the reader also learns a lot about MS, the rockstar lifestyle, and the importance of music to true musicians. I will definitely be looking for more JP Kinkaid novels, even as I wish that the Haunted Ballad series could have continued.
March 4, 2012
Wrapped inside of a tightly wound murder mystery and some kick-ass writing is all the stuff you ever wanted to know about what it is like to be on the road with a rock and roll band: how they get from here to there, what it is like backstage, who gets in, who stays out, how it feels -- oh lordy, there is a lot about how it feels.
JP Kinkaid and his lady Bree are richly drawn, vividly alive characters, and you won't be able to tear yourself away from them and their story until the end.
Turn it up loud, and listen to Blacklight, thirty years on the road, and still rockin.'
JP Kinkaid and his lady Bree are richly drawn, vividly alive characters, and you won't be able to tear yourself away from them and their story until the end.
Turn it up loud, and listen to Blacklight, thirty years on the road, and still rockin.'
June 30, 2022
4,25 stars - English Ebook
Adult/High School–JP Kinkaid, a member of the legendary British rock band Blacklight, is unnerved when he learns that Perry Dillon, a tabloid biographer, is writing an exposé of the group.
Kinkaid has a lot of secrets he would like to remain hidden: heroin addiction, deportation, and his struggle with multiple sclerosis. His fear only escalates when Dillon turns up dead in his dressing room and his life partner, Bree Godwin, is identified as the prime suspect in the investigation.
As the mystery unravels, it provides a behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional rock and roll, revealing the close bonds that are formed within it.
As the story progresses, secrets are revealed as JP revisits his early days with Blacklight and Bree. The more that is revealed, the less trustworthy the characters are as their seemingly normal existence becomes shrouded in mystery and suspicion.
A sit down and read right through wonderful mystery that really gets you inside the mind of a rock star.
It is obvious she knows her stuff, and it was both interesting and heartbreaking to see the pain and mental trauma her hero endures.
JP Kincaid is a terrific character and I fell in love with him, and his wife. This book should appeal to any mystery-lover as well as to music fans. Really looking forward to the rest of the series!
Adult/High School–JP Kinkaid, a member of the legendary British rock band Blacklight, is unnerved when he learns that Perry Dillon, a tabloid biographer, is writing an exposé of the group.
Kinkaid has a lot of secrets he would like to remain hidden: heroin addiction, deportation, and his struggle with multiple sclerosis. His fear only escalates when Dillon turns up dead in his dressing room and his life partner, Bree Godwin, is identified as the prime suspect in the investigation.
As the mystery unravels, it provides a behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional rock and roll, revealing the close bonds that are formed within it.
As the story progresses, secrets are revealed as JP revisits his early days with Blacklight and Bree. The more that is revealed, the less trustworthy the characters are as their seemingly normal existence becomes shrouded in mystery and suspicion.
A sit down and read right through wonderful mystery that really gets you inside the mind of a rock star.
It is obvious she knows her stuff, and it was both interesting and heartbreaking to see the pain and mental trauma her hero endures.
JP Kincaid is a terrific character and I fell in love with him, and his wife. This book should appeal to any mystery-lover as well as to music fans. Really looking forward to the rest of the series!
July 27, 2011
Rock and Roll never forgets: Supposedly a mystery story, it never really makes it in that genre. A mud-raking journalist is found murdered in the dressing of a well known rock band while they are on tour, and the person who discovers the body, and therefore the prime suspect, is JP Kincaid’s long term girlfriend . But the murder mystery is solved without any of the protagonists - either the JP Kincaid of the title, or the police - actually doing much. So on the level of a mystery, the book didn’t amount to much. However, it was an easy read of the trials and tribulations of a rock band on tour, and of their long history, seen from the viewpoint of a guitarist with MS. One thing that seemed a little out of sync to me was the occasional use of English idiom by JP - sometimes the words he used just didn't seem right. Three stars out of five. Maybe it was really aimed at the young adult market?
April 22, 2009
What I learned from this book - as I was writing it - was that sometimes you learn to live with a beloved ghost, rather than trying to stifle or exorcise him. Also, that you're never too old to rock and roll.
August 20, 2008
Different and fun, lot of behind the scenes rock concert and a good mystery.
May 4, 2009
Very enjoyable. Reads less like a mystery and more about life as a successful rock musician.
July 28, 2011
Pretty good. A murder mystery mixed with music, rock and roll, and all the things that come along with it. I really enjoyed this book.
April 13, 2024
It’s kind of 4 minus. No idea how I never read this back when it was new. Pretty absorbing story. Main character wasn’t likable enough so it’s probably good she didn’t do a series with him. The San Francisco rock scene had some nostalgia and I didn’t find any glaring mistakes. It felt a little off but was completely readable.
August 26, 2013
I looked forward to reading this first book in the series featuring rock bass guitarist JP Kincaid with much anticipation. I have read all the books in another series by this author and thoroughly loved them, so perhaps I was just expecting more of the same. But I found that the same techniques that worked so well in the other series--which wove together stories set sometime back in history with modern times--didn't work as well with this setting/character/story. There was still quite a lot of storytelling, "side trips" of explanation and backstory, and a lot of minute detail of the life of a rock star. But rather than these forays off the main track weaving the tale together, it bogged things down quite a lot in places and were more distracting than anything. That said, I like JP and look forward to getting to know his supporting cast of characters better.
In this opening entry in the series, JP and his band Blacklight discover that a notorious tabloid biographer is set to do an expose type biography of the legendary band. What rock star doesn't have things in their past that they want kept quiet? JP reluctantly sits for an interview with him at his manager's insistence--with a scripted set of questions that pointedly avoid certain topics; JP has plenty of baggage. But apparently someone else has more--who has enough secrets that they would kill the biographer, Peter Dillon? His body is found in JP's dressing room on the opening night of their American tour, and it's not long before his longtime girlfriend Bree is a definite suspect to the NYPD detectives assigned to the case, thus leaving him no choice but to do some of his own digging to clear her name.
In this opening entry in the series, JP and his band Blacklight discover that a notorious tabloid biographer is set to do an expose type biography of the legendary band. What rock star doesn't have things in their past that they want kept quiet? JP reluctantly sits for an interview with him at his manager's insistence--with a scripted set of questions that pointedly avoid certain topics; JP has plenty of baggage. But apparently someone else has more--who has enough secrets that they would kill the biographer, Peter Dillon? His body is found in JP's dressing room on the opening night of their American tour, and it's not long before his longtime girlfriend Bree is a definite suspect to the NYPD detectives assigned to the case, thus leaving him no choice but to do some of his own digging to clear her name.
January 16, 2016
JP Kinkaid is an aging rock star with more than a couple skeletons in his closet. So when its announced that his band is to become the topic of a scandalous, tell-all book written by an exceptionally slimy author, JP starts to worry. Its not just himself he's trying to protect, but his long time girlfriend Bree. Their relationship was built on questionable circumstances that JP hopes to keep hidden. All these problems fall by the way-side, however, when the author of the book is found dead in JP's dressing room back stage. Now JP is more worried about Bree being the main suspect and how to keep her out of jail.
This was such a fun, fast read. I was entertained through the entirety of the book, constantly wondering what would happen next. While the book does center around a grisly murder, the main focus was the relationship between JP and Bree. The story was great but I did only give the book a middle-of-the-road rating because the writing itself wasn't fantastic. There were times when I would notice how oddly a sentence was put together or the mild repetitiveness of a character's thought pattern. Over all though, definitely worth the couple hours it took to read.
This was such a fun, fast read. I was entertained through the entirety of the book, constantly wondering what would happen next. While the book does center around a grisly murder, the main focus was the relationship between JP and Bree. The story was great but I did only give the book a middle-of-the-road rating because the writing itself wasn't fantastic. There were times when I would notice how oddly a sentence was put together or the mild repetitiveness of a character's thought pattern. Over all though, definitely worth the couple hours it took to read.
March 19, 2009
Dunno if I'll finish this one or not. Writing seems a little formula to me, but then I'm only to page 20 or so. I'm guessing the biographer gets killed...
So then I stayed up almost all night to find out what happens next. That must make it a good book? It was certainly suspenseful. One reviewer (here on goodreads) said s/he figured out who dunnit as soon as the body was found. I took that as a challenge but didn't figure it out until about 3/4th through the book.
I tend to avoid mysteries written in the 1st person because the main character frequently wants to tell the reader about him- or herself instead of letting the reader's perception of the character grow and change as the story progresses. There are notable exceptions of course. One good thing about this book is that the main character's perception of himself changes through the book and as a result my perception got to grow as well.
So then I stayed up almost all night to find out what happens next. That must make it a good book? It was certainly suspenseful. One reviewer (here on goodreads) said s/he figured out who dunnit as soon as the body was found. I took that as a challenge but didn't figure it out until about 3/4th through the book.
I tend to avoid mysteries written in the 1st person because the main character frequently wants to tell the reader about him- or herself instead of letting the reader's perception of the character grow and change as the story progresses. There are notable exceptions of course. One good thing about this book is that the main character's perception of himself changes through the book and as a result my perception got to grow as well.
January 30, 2014
Very good, well-written, tightly plotted mystery with JP Kincaid, a middle-aged rockstar afflicted with multiple sclerosis, as the "detective." Told from a first-person view, it concerns the tell-all story of the Hall Of Fame band Blacklight, but the members have a lot to hide from the sleazy writer. When he is found dead in JP's dressing room during a show, he and his long-time girl friend are at the top of the suspect list.
First in the series, and I will be looking for the others.
Recommended.
First in the series, and I will be looking for the others.
Recommended.
July 26, 2011
Characters' motivations didn't make sense. I had the "mystery" solved in the first chapter. And the author had an annoying habit of jumping around in time. I don't mean flashbacks, I mean saying something like "when he got back to the hotel room, the sun was rising" and then going back to describe the entire night. I think her main strength was being able to detail the musical aspect, but since that didn't add anything to the story it really wasn't a point in the book's favor.
April 9, 2012
An enjoyable crime drama in which guitarist J P Kinkaid, a thirty year veteran of English band Blacklight (which in personnel and personalities bears a close relationship to the Rolling Stones), has to sort out a murder in which his long-time girlfriend is the prime suspect and which has roots deep in his past.[return][return]I didn't find the plot entirely convincing, but the two main characters and the '70s rock'n'sleaze background are excellent. (3.5/5)
March 4, 2012
Wasn't sure about this book when I started it, but while the mystery part wasnt that prominent, it was interesting, and the rock-musician aspects were entertaining. I liked that it has an "older" main protagonist, and one living with a chronic illness. Really enjoyed it, will definitely read the next in the series.
July 27, 2008
A very good novel, but not necessarily a good mystery. I quite enjoyed the story and how everything unfolded, except that I get frustrated by mysteries that I can figure out as soon as I see the corpse.
October 12, 2008
Great debut for a series. Rock and roll vibe is just right, and if the mystery is a little predictable, well, you just don't care because you're tapping your toes, debating getting up and dancing to the music. Looking forward to more.....
May 2, 2010
I read the second one first and this one (the first one) second, and still enjoyed every minute. Great, fully developed characters in a fascinating universe. Not the strongest mystery plots ever but good enough. I can't wait to read the third J.P. Kinkaid mystery.
December 10, 2010
Giving this series a try - main character of this mystery series is a guitarist in a classic rock band, battling MS, who ends up helping a detective solve a murder. Interesting backdrop for a mystery series, I liked it and will try the next one when I can squeeze it in.
Want to read
September 5, 200809/05/08 rec via bookmooch
September 9, 2008
Very much a first book in a series, but enjoyable enough that I'll be reading at least the next one.
September 11, 2008
A fun read, quirky. Enjoyable. Looking forward to more books in the series.
February 5, 2009
a real rocker book
November 13, 2010
A guitarist dealing with MS while touring with his band Blacklight, an enduring love, and murder.
July 1, 2017
(3-3.5)
October 3, 2016
He's a bit of a dip, you know?
Read
January 1, 2010#1 JP Kincaid mystery series - #4 @ PBS
#2 While My Guitar Gently Weeps
#2 While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews