3rd time's the charm...?

Sometimes it takes a coupla readings 2 "get" a book. I remember reading Jesse Sublett's mystery novel ROCK CRITIC MURDERS when it came-out in paperback in 1990, intrigued by the silly title & the kitschy, cool, retro cover in reds & yellows.
But a few yrs later I couldn't remember NEthing about the book after the 1st 50 pgs. & a few yrs ago when I tried 2 read it again I bogged down shortly after those 1st 50, when the plot gets rolling....
This time around I made it all the way thru & can tell U that ROCK CRITIC MURDERS is a lite, fun, fast read, & is very good on the gritty bar-band Dtails & the sun-baked Texas lifestyle.
It's also cool that Sublett's writing gets smoother & funnier as the plot gets more complex.
But U may not get past the 1st 50 pgs either, if yr a music fan. & in a way I think Sublett lost the chance at a really good Texas-bar-band slice-of-life novel when he let the murder mystery take over.
A quick recap: Bassist & part-time parole-skip-tracer Martin Fender gets a phonecall. His 4mer band True Love is getting back 2gether 4 a gig 2 help open a new Austin nightclub. Does Martin want the gig? Considering his chronic shortage of $$$, oh yeah. The band rehearses 4 a week in a sprawling, hot ranch house outside of town, & during that wk we get 2 know the band. At the Nd of that wk, suddenly the band's struggling, aging lead guitarist is found dead. Suicide ... or murder? Suddenly there's a kilo of cocaine that's come up missing. & the late guitarist's girlfriend starts acting really weird....
I won't recap the rest, Bcos the events R the story, & it's worth the trip. Some of Sublett's lines R laff-out-loud funny. & there's a dramatic climax & a happy Nding 4 almost every1 -- Xcept 4 the Bad Guys. Might make a pretty good movie. Oh, & a coupla rock critics get murdered along the way 2, but it's no great loss....
But here's the thing: The scenes where True Love rehearses in the ranch house R really good -- low-key, gritty, down-2-Earth, real. We get 2 know Fender's fellow band members as real people, & they R completely Blievable. This sounds like a real life, observed in Dtail & put in2 a book in a unique, Blievable way. & I was disappointed there wasn't more of it in the resta the book.
The plot pretty much takes over after the gtrist's body is found, & there R some neat twists & turns along the way, & it's Njoyable. But it's a STORY. The 1st 50 pgs & the up-close look at bar-band life w/ its little conflicts & releases, clashes & Njoyments, is something more. & I wish Sublett had continued w/ it, instead of w/ the story that probly sold the book. The story itself U can find NEwhere, I don't think it's NEthing real special, tho it's pulled-off w/ some humor. But the setting -- if yr a fan of the Austin music scene, or bar-band R&B, or if U've ever lived in Texas, U might like this book a LOT. I just wish it had some more magic after the 1st 50 pgs....

COMING SOON: Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS. Listening 2 it right now -- not bad! Why's everybody think it's so scary...?