Pleasant, but so unmemorable that I'm having trouble even conjuring the interest to write a review. The sort of book that doesn't inspire enough glorious frustration to write a rant, nor the adoration to pen a slavering paean to its greatness.Carlotta Carlyle, the story's protagonist, is a former cab driver and former cop, now private investigator. She's single and has the requisite cat, T.C. And T.C., being a thoroughly modern cat, gets mail.When the story begins, Carlotta is eyeing a letter that claims T.C. is the winner of 20-thousand dollars. Because the story details have already been replaced with details from another novel, I can't remember if the letter is from a condo company, and collecting the money requires listening to a sales pitch, or whether there are no strings attached at all. Either way, to claim the 20K, Carlotta and her "husband," T.C., need to collect the money in person. A problem since T.C. isn't precisely a person.Right off the bat, I'm wondering how smart woman could ever think this was legitimate. I mean, seriously? Anyway, Carlotta is on the hunt for a human stand-in for T.C. Meanwhile, an elderly lady, Margaret Devens, appears on her doorstep, wanting to hire Carlotta to find her missing brother, Eugene. Unfortunately, Granny is less than forthcoming with the truth about her brother, and pretty much expects Carlotta to located him out of thin air.I think I'm supposed to find Margaret endearing because she's old. Mostly, I found her prickly, like a cactus, but without the occasional burst of pretty flowers. Consequently, the fate of Margaret's brother didn't exactly keep me up nights worrying. Or reading this book. (A kind of stupid obstinacy kept me reading.)Eugene works for a cab company, the same outfit that once employed Carlotta. And pretty soon, Carlotta's back driving a cab, following Eugene's compatriots around the streets of Boston, seeking clues to Eugene's disappearance. Carlotta also reacquaints herself with Mooney, a police detective, and tries to enlist him to play the part of T.C. The obligatory (tepid) love interest is provided by Carlotta's ex-boyfriend, Sam, who owns the cab company.Stuff happens, and the above plot threads - cab company, local police department, T.C.'s prize money - are bound together reasonably well with an IRA money-making scheme (as in Irish Republican Army, not retirement - the novel was first published in the 80s).The pace was just too meandering, and Carlotta, despite the occasional witty insight, felt like just about every other young, single sleuth in the genre. I got sort of annoyed with her at the end when she goes all schmopey over the death of the antagonist. (She shows up at the funeral, with flowers.) The guy is a drug dealer, precisely the kind of person who endangers the life of Paulina, her little sister/surrogate daughter. Maybe the point was to show that Carlotta was kind-hearted, but honestly, all it did was make her look like an ass.Yeah, a boring review for an uninspiring book. This is the start of a series that spawned many more books, so evidently the character and setting works for other readers.
Having read and enjoyed several of the later Carlotta Carlye books, I thought I'd start at the beginning of the series. I just adore Carlotta as a character. She’s so solid, while being human and a bit flawed at the same time. She’s my all-time favorite female, P.I. She’s gutsy, resourceful, funny and most of all she’s honourable. Carlotta’s such a stand-up person and a loyal friend. I like it that she’s plays Blues guitar and listens to Bonnie Raitt and Billie Holiday. I thought it was quite funny that in this book I also discovered that, like me, she doesn’t like nail polish, she doesn’t like earrings, and so never wears those. All things considered I think it’s important to do the series justice and read it in the right order. Characters develop, relationships develop, and authors develop. I think this first book clearly lays the ground-work at depicting Carlotta’s important relationships with the people that matter in life: her entourage that will be there with her till the very last book. There’s Mooney, the cop and ex-colleague, Gloria, the co-owner of a cab company G&W, where Carlotta works on and off; Paulina, her ‘adopted’ little sister; Roz, her eccentric artist tenant; and finally Sam, her on-and-off-again lover and heir apparent of the Gianelli mob-family. The other important character in this series is definitely the city of Boston. Now I’ve visited Boston a few times, but as soon as I read a Carlotta book, I want to go back to better explore and feel this unique city. I want be on the streets while Carlotta drives her cab, or drives her old red Toyota doing her PI work. Most of time I am enthralled by the gritty language, the down-and-dirty description of the Boston streets, the no-nonsense tone. As a first book goes, it's a solid one. No wonder that Linda Barnes won the Edgar Award back in 1987 for Best novel with this one. The plot kept me captivated and entertained. While investigating a missing persons case, Carlotta accidently stumbles upon a group of Irish-American cabbies, all over 50, who may be running money and guns for the now severely restricted IRA. Carlotta finds herself in very deep trouble indeed, the kind that can easily end in murder. Only because Carlotta is so extremely street-smart, resourceful and knows who she can rely on for assistance, is she able to resolve this more than messy situation, and unmasking the real culprit.This is a perfect book to devour one lazy afternoon while shutting the rest of the world out.
What do You think about A Trouble Of Fools (2006)?
I've read other books in this series and basically all revolve around drugs or the mafia of which I have no interest. This one added the Irish Republican Army to the fun. I grabbed this one because I needed a book with Fools in the title and it fit. I kept waiting for something to happen but it just plodded along with it's drug, IRA and mafia connections. So not my type of book. This will be the last book I'll read in this series as I don't particularly like Carlotta or anyone else for that matter.
—Barbara ★
Audio version: I tried & tried but just couldn't get into it and don't think it was the narration. The book or author synopsis compared it/her to Paretsky (VI Warshawski) and Grafton (Kinsey Millhone), which are both favorites of mine. I can't really see the comparison other than it has a female P.I. that was former law enforcement. I don't think it's b/c book was from late 80s b/c I only started Paretsky's books in past year and her books started in 80s and I am ready Mrs. Pollifax (from late 60s) & just finished Kate Fansler (by Amanda Cross, also from 60s) and both of those I'm looking forward to more in their series'. The only chuckle I did get was that she used her cat to put the phone bill name in (b/c back when it when in phone books ppl used but maybe for her business too) as TC Carlysle (as in TomCat) and subsequently receives mail addressed to the cat & their turned out to be a wanted criminal by that name.Carlotta Carlysle, a former police officer and cab driver now turned P.I., is a 6 foot tall redhead that's not big on following rules. When an older woman is referred to her (by cabbie or cab dispatcher) to find her missing cab-driving brother, Carlotta takes the case and goes back driving cab undercover part-time, finds some $ after older lady gets beat up (that she hides in-under the kitty litterbox) and follows a trail that leads to a group GBA related to I.R.A. She has interactions w/new & former cabbies and police contacts, including the "geezers" in wading through Boston Irish politics and drug dealers, one she recruits to act as TC as her husband for a sweepstake-type thing through the mail, but is there more to that too.
—Sherri F.
A Trouble of Fools, by Linda Barnes. B. First in the Carlotta Carlyle series, borrowed from the National Library Services for the Blind.We’re introduced to Carlotta Carlyle, sometimes cab driver for Green and White cabs, former cop, and now Private investigator. We meet her house mate, Roz, who cleans her house, sort of, as payment for the rent, and who is an artist. We meet her friend Lieutenant Moon from her days on the force, and we hear about her boy friend, Sam, part owner of the cab company, and from a mob family along with Gloria, his sister, who runs the cab company. These characters will be the main characters in the series. In this, the first book, a client comes to her office, an elderly woman, and asks her to find her son, who has disappeared. It turns out that he was a cab driver for the G & W company, and Gloria sent her to Carlotta. Not long after she was hired, the older woman is beaten, and her home is ransacked. She asks Carlotta from her hospital bed to go to her home and find what the thieves had been looking for and had not found. Carlotta finds a stash of money, which she takes home and hides underneath her cat’s litter box. So we have Carlotta trying to find Eugene, the woman’s son, trying to find out where the money came from and where it was supposed to go, and playing phone tag with a phone salesman who is trying to sell her on a condo in a new development. But she can’t view the condo without bringing her “husband.” She appears in the phone book as Thomas C. Carlyle (T.C. being her cat’s name) and doesn’t have a husband but wants to visit the condo anyway so sets about trying to get someone to play “T.C. Carlyle.” The condo sales is a FBI sting operation trying to find someone named Thomas C. Carlyle. This book sets the tone for the series with the set of characters introduced, and a basic sense of irony that prevails throughout. I had not read this book but have read later entries in the series. This, while being a good first book, is not as good as the later books in this series.
—Kathleen Hagen
