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Title: The Big Dig by Linda Barnes ISBN: 0-312-98969-5 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 18 August, 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.58 (19 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: This book is stagnant and full of annoying redundancies
Comment: In her ninth Carlotta Carlyle mystery, Linda Barnes sends the red-headed, six-foot tall private investigator undercover on a Big Dig. The place is Boston, " ... the Big Dig, formally known as the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project, [is] the biggest urban construction project in the history of the modern world, no less, a mega-dollar boondoggle to some, a brilliant and farsighted plan for Boston's transportation future to others."
In response to a call to the fraud tip line, Carlotta is hired by her buddy ex-cop cum security businessman, to ferret out what is really happening on the various construction site locations. When she gets to her third job site, she is hired as a secretary, which puts her in the office and allows her to snoop in files and records. But, the CFO and CEO of Horgan's Construction are having problems that far exceed those on the site. At first, Carlyle thinks they are having marital difficulties; then, she slowly learns that they are caught up in a far more nefarious plot.
Carlotta, who is not above moonlighting as a cab driver when she needs to pick up a few bucks, decides to take a second assignment: find a missing woman named Veronica. And here is where the book begins to fall apart.
Linda Barnes is known for her gritty noir-like mysteries, but in the BIG DIG, she asks readers to buy into a truly unbelievable plot full of holes you could drive an earth mover through. And, by the time she delivers the denouement, so much ancillary activity has taken place that it is very difficult to take anything that happens afterward seriously.
In a previous book Carlyle is shot, and she keeps referring to her scar and the fact that it interferes with her mobility. Unfortunately, the BIG DIG has the same problem. It is stagnant and full of annoying redundancies, not the best Barnes can offer by a long shot.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great Addition to the Series
Comment: Even though the plot was a bit overwhelming at times (too many key people to remember--but maybe that's just me), this was a snappy, fun read, and a worthy addition to the Carlotta Carlyle series.
The story concerns some nefarious goings-on at Boston's Big Dig, which I knew nothing about before reading this book, and now want to research further. Unlike the often boring preachiness of authors like, say, Linda Fairstein in her Alexandra Cooper series, Barnes manages to pack a lot of interesting background and information into this book without once distracting the reader from the plot.
And what a plot it is: Carlotta is working two jobs at once, one as an undercover secretary on one of the Dig sites; the other a mysterious missing persons case for a wealthy Boston blueblood. Add in a lot of dogs, a hot new love interest, some spooky rats, and a murder or two, and you've got a fast-paced mystery.
I missed some of the regulars in this book: Mooney (mentioned only in passing), Gloria, Sam (some surprises about him, but I won't say what) and--believe it or not--Paolina, although she has not been easy in the last few books. For die-hard readers like me, there is a hidden piece of information about Carlotta's past that completely blew me away--it occurs in a single sentence, and provides a great clue into Carlotta's makeup. If it has been mentioned in earlier books, I certainly missed it. And I have read every one.
New readers: This is a good place to start, although you will miss some of the regular characters who make the series tick. Regular readers: Grab this one. You'll love it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Carlotta as a secretary
Comment: There have been half a dozen or more Carlotta Carlyle mysteries over the years. She's sort of a melding of elements of Spenser on the one hand and V.I. Warshawski and Kinsey Millhone on the other. The author has a good take on Boston and the culture there, and has a good character which she involves in interesting mysteries.
In this installment, she's been hired by a larger P.I. firm which is investigating irregularities on an extremely large construction project, the Big Dig of the title. Basically, they're building a freeway system *under* Boston, so that the traffic won't interfere with the city as much. There's supposedly some sort of fraud going on at a particular construction site, and Carlotta goes undercover to investigate, posing as a secretary.
When she gets there she's bored silly by the case, and on impulse takes a second investigation on. In this second investigation, a woman is looking for her tenant, a younger woman who apparently sat for her dog and acted as her companion, and who has driven off with the client's car and not sent word back as to where she is. Carlotta is for a while baffled by this.
When things begin to sort themselves out, the book is interesting and the solution satisfying and intelligent. It does take the story a while to get going though (hence only four stars) and there are perhaps one too many coincidences for me. I did enjoy the story, though, and would recommend it.
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Title: Flashpoint by Linda Barnes ISBN: 0786889489 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Dead Midnight by Marcia Muller ISBN: 0446612529 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: The Snake Tattoo by Linda Barnes ISBN: 0312993552 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 03 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Blacklist: A V.I. Warshawski Novel by Sara Paretsky ISBN: 0399150854 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 29 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: A Trouble of Fools by Linda Barnes ISBN: 0786889535 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 06 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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