Sometimes books get on our TBR piles in the strangest ways. A few years ago I did a library display on Cold Cases. If you’ve read anything I’ve reviewed you’d probably know I love to read about these unsolved missing person cases. Anyway, I bought the book Cold Case by Linda Barnes for that display. It was not the greatest copy so I circulated it and then threw it on my book shelves meaning to read it in the near future. . A few weeks ago I decided my book shelves could use some weeding and I came across the book. I couldn’t bear to part with it so back it went only now to stare me in the face as there was room for it to be seen. I vowed to read it soon. I’ll bet that promise would have gone unheeded if not for Book Lust to Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers by Nancy Pearl. In this collection with selections for us traveling dreamers, Nancy recommends Cold Case for books taking place in Boston. To quote she gives this teaser "For personal reasons (which you'll totally understand when you read the novel), my favorite Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle series remains Cold Case".No more excuses. I read the book. First, let me say I’m not much of a series fan and this one falls number 7 of the 14 in the series. Well, at least I wouldn’t be starting at the end. Cold Case stands alone well enough. It might have been better to have a bit more background about the main PI, Carlotta Carlyle, but I managed . Carlotta's a former cop, red haired and tough, but not as wise-cracking as some female PI’s in other series. I appreciated this as sometimes those too smart, kick a__ women don't ring true to me. The streets of Boston are well represented in the tale. Some of the fun of Cold Case was that it was published just long enough ago not to be filled with Internet searching and cell phones and the big dig. The story kept my interest and the cold case had some twists I didn’t see coming so all in all, a solid 3 out of 5 from me. Will I read another? Possibly. And as to Nancy Linn Pearl’s involvement with the story, this mystery was not revealed until the very end. If I was one of those people who read an ending first, it would have saved me shaking my head throughout trying to figure the role Pearl would play. Sorry, I’m not going to tell. You’ll have to read it like I did and no peeking!
#8 Carlotta Carlyle mystery set in Boston and environs. Carlotta is approached by an older man who gives her the first chapter of a manuscript to read--he believes that Thea Janis is alive. She had written a brilliant, seductive novel that read well beyond her fifteen years--and then disappeared. She wrote using a particular paper and ink in a certain style and this manuscript certainly reads a lot like Nightmare's Dawn. But a little digging makes Carlotta wonder what her client is playing at--when it's revealed that Thea--whose real name was Dorothy Cameron, one of the politically rich and powerful Cameron family--was actually dead, the killer having confessed and her body being buried. Suddenly, the client--who also is not who he claims to be--wants the manuscript back and to un-hire Carlotta, but by then the old, cold case has got her intrigued and she's not likely to give up so quickly. Leaving most of the laws and ethics of a good private investigator behind, she plunges ahead anyway--otherwise, there would probably be no story here. LOLMeanwhile, the drug lord natural father of Carlotta's "little sister" Paolina has disappeared and she engages her dispatcher pal Gloria to harass his lawyer until she knows where he is--and she's being followed by someone she suspects is either one of Carlos' thugs or else a DEA agent. Or is it someone connected with the Cameron family who don't want her digging too deeply into Thea's death? Every time I read one of these books, I'm amazed how the series flew under my radar for so many years, and that the author isn't more well-known. Great main character, interesting secondary characters, very atmospheric with plenty of action and realistic dialogue. Another winner!
