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Lie Down with the Devil (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries)
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| List Price: | $24.95 |
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Product Description
Bestseller and multiple award–winning author Linda Barnes returns with the most personal case to date for her popular Boston PI, Carlotta Carlyle. Carlotta, in unfamiliar territory working on her own behalf, finds herself in the middle of a complicated case that has as much to do with the people she loves as the backstreets of Boston, and beyond.
For starters, Carlotta wants to know what her on-again, off-again boyfriend Sam Gianelli did to earn himself a secret indictment for murder that’s keeping him out of the country. A man with plenty of secrets, he won’t tell her anything, much less let her help, and she isn’t having any more luck with her old friends at the Boston PD. Sam’s exile could be connected to the mob—he is in the family—but she’s not buying it. It couldn’t be that simple. Nothing involving Sam ever is.
Faced with nothing but dead ends, Carlotta goes back to basics and takes a case for a nervous bride-to-be who wants to make sure her fiancé is being faithful. Simple enough, but when her client turns up dead, Carlotta catches the kind of break she wished she hadn’t.
While nothing is as it seems in Lie Down with the Devil, one thing is clear: Readers know that when they’re reading Linda Barnes, they’re in the hands of a maestro.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #614164 in Books
- Published on: 2008-08-05
- Released on: 2008-08-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 304 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780312332891
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In Barnes's utterly compelling 12th mystery to feature Boston PI Carlotta Carlyle (after 2006's Heart of the World), Carlyle is still engaged to her mob-associated fiancé, Sam Gianelli, though she's waiting for Sam to explain why he's disappeared in the wake of rumors linking him to a dead girl. Then a woman calling herself Jessica Franklin visits Carlyle armed with [...] a doubt about his fidelity. After Franklin becomes the victim of a hit-and-run, Carlyle is the most likely suspect. When the police discover that Jessica Franklin is an alias, Carlyle, in more trouble than ever, turns to her old friend and former boss at the Boston PD, Joseph Mooney. Together, they delve into a small community on Cape Cod, where a local Native American tribe is lobbying for land—perhaps to use for a casino. The story moves unhesitatingly from point to point, and each character encountered holds his or her space on the page with confidence and distinctiveness. The reader can just sit back and enjoy the ride. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."
From Booklist
Things get moving quickly in Bostonian Carlotta Carlyle’s twelfth mystery, picking up right where Heart of the World (2006) left off, with Carlyle’s mobbed-up fiancé, Sam, sought for murder, and teenage Paolina, Carlotta’s adopted little sister, recuperating from her horrific experiences in Colombia. In her emotional agony, Paolina has shut out Carlotta, so the six-foot ex-cop and part-time cabbie turns her energy toward proving Sam innocent—in the face of his secrecy, his womanizing, and, worst of all, mounting evidence that he actually did the deed. In addition, Carlyle gets back in her hack to take on the surveillance of a young woman’s groom-to-be, which, strangely enough, leads her friend and former boss, Mooney, into a mess that directly links to Sam. The ever-faithful Mooney takes a larger role here than usual, but it’s still Carlyle’s show; her courage and vulnerability are both on full display as she grapples with a change that promises a refreshing, if not totally unexpected, shift in her already turbulent life. The plotting is less successful than the emotional content this time, but that won’t matter much for series fans, who have been waiting quite a while for a new installment. --Stephanie Zvirin
Review
Praise for Linda Barnes
“This mystery has both timeless and contemporary appeal. . . . A winner.”
--Boston Herald on Heart of the World
“With every novel, Linda Barnes reminds us of two key facts: She was one of the first and she remains one of the best. Heart of the World has everything that Carlotta Carlyle fans have come to expect from this seminal series. Barnes has never been better, and that’s saying a lot.”
--Laura Lippman, author of Another Thing to Fall
“Carlyle is a feisty, sexy, red-haired, hot-tempered ex-cop. . . . Heart of the World is an entertaining read.”
--The Washington Post
“Linda Barnes has long been one of the most skilled and artful writers of the crime novel. With Heart of the World, she proves it and takes it up to a new level. This is her best.”
--Michael Connelly, author of The Overlook
“A shrewd piece of writing, well researched, and smartly told.”
--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review, on The Big Dig
“The most refreshing, creative female character to hit mystery fiction since Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone.”
--People magazine
Customer Reviews
Linda Barnes Shifts Gears
How do you top a great book like Heart of the World? You don't. But with a series, there's a sequel to be written anyway.
Paolina is still recovering from the trauma of her kidnapping and its aftermath in South America. The troubling part is that she's pushing Carlotta away.
Sam Gianelli, Carlotta's fiancé, is missing in action except for occasional telephone calls when he tells her to keep out of it. When Carlotta tries to get her old friend, Mooney from Boston PD, to tell her more, he keeps quiet.
Carlotta hasn't worked at detecting in some time, and Roz pushes Carlotta to take on a young woman, Jessica Franklin, who wants her fiancé tailed. Carlotta agrees. The woman heads for a meeting out of town while the fiancé starts meandering around after making a short stop in Kendall Square in Cambridge. The night becomes a long one as he then heads for the cape. What's going on?
As usual in detective fiction, nothing is as it seems. But no one is going to make it easy for Carlotta to find out. Her head is snapped out of her troubles when the young woman who hired her turns up dead in a local hit-and-run. That's really puzzling. She was supposed to be out of town.
Before long, Carlotta is getting the eye . . . and needs help. Who will step in?
Without giving anything away, Linda Barnes decides to take this series in a new direction with this story. It's a promising direction, one that makes me look forward to reading the next book in the series.
If you've enjoyed this series, don't miss Lie Down with the Devil. It'll keep your attention!
The plot has a lot of twists and turns, but they often felt forced. That's why I graded the book down one star. See what you think.
Ties up the loose ends from "Heart of the World"
There are two plot lines from this sequel to "Heart of the World". The first one concerns Sam Gianelli, PI Carlotta Carlyle's mobster boyfriend who has skipped the country to avoid being arrested for murder. The second plot has to do with Jessie Franklin, a young woman who wants Carlotta to follow her fiance and find out if he's having an affair. Meanwhile she's trying to stay in touch with Paolina, her Little Sister who has been traumatized by a kidnapping and murder. As Carlotta pursues these things, she discovers a connection with a local Indian tribe, and she teams up with her former boss, Mooney, to try to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. Mystery and romance blend well in this latest book in the series, and Linda Barnes' fans will not be disappointed.
where's the fun??
I love the Carlotta Carlisle series. But this one didn't begin to measure up. Carlotta was sour; Roz, Gloria and the rest were almost non-existent and Mooney has turned into a love sick puppy. Sorry this one's a miss.
