Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #480390 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-01
• Released on: 2005-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Although the title may suggest a Western setting, Coyote brings back to familiar Boston territory six-foot-tall, flame-haired sleuth Carlotta Carlyle. This time the ex-cop and sometime cab-driver prowls overcrowded apartments where illegal aliens rest--and sometimes find their final resting places--after their ill-paid labors. Carlotta's latest case is neatly tied in with her sensitively depicted relationship with Paolina, a child she has befriended through the Big Sister program who has led a troubled alien, Manuela Estafan, to Carlotta. But when Manuela disappears and her I.D. is found on the mutilated body of a murder victim, Carlotta's investigations--running parallel to work done by her cop-friend Mooney--reveal the work of a "coyote"--one who exploits illegal aliens. The case also teaches Carlotta a surprising lesson: much like male private eyes of yore, Carlotta looks at the opposite sex in sexually stereotyped terms. When her libido overcomes her better judgment she makes an error that could prove fatal. Carlotta is at her best when she focuses on the personal plight of the individuals who make up the nameless legion of potential deportees. While discovering the truth about them, she convincingly provides wisdom and comfort to the child she adores. Mystery Guild main selection.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Boston private investigator/part-time cabbie Carlotta Carlyle's search for a frightened woman's green card involves her in an underground world of illegal immigration, labor exploitation, and gruesome mutilation murder. Working in tandem with buddy Lieutenant Mooney, upstairs tenant/free spirit Roz, and hunky-but-deceptive Immigration and Naturalization Service agent Clinton, the animated and energetic Carlyle discovers important information just about the time her beloved "little sister" Paolina disappears. Attractive, athletic, and human as always, Carlotta acts with unequivocal panache. A winning repeat performance for the heroine of The Snake Tattoo ( LJ 2/1/89) and A Trouble of Fools ( LJ 11/1/87). Mystery Guild main selection.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Customer Reviews

Ripe for Re-release!
To the powers that be: Please re-release this wonderful book, one of the best by Linda Barnes, and certainly worthy of attention from readers new and old.

In this Carlotta Carlyle classic, a serial killer is stalking Hispanic women, all illegal aliens, in Carlotta's native Boston. The murders are grisly and vicious, and fear of being sent back to their equally grisly and vicious native lands are keeping the victims' friends from talking. Carlotta finds herself in the middle of the trouble after an anonymous woman asks for help--and it's soon Carlotta herself who needs the help.

As readers of these mysteries know, Carlotta has a beloved "little sister," a Hispanic child named Paolina, whom the detective loves dearly. But with the dark mystery threatening the Hispanic community, Paolina changes overnight from a sunny, bright and loving child to one who is surly and uncommunicative. Is Paolina's mother Marta in danger from the serial killer? Is Paolina herself being threatened? What is the secret they will not reveal?

Even though this reader guessed the killer about halfway through the book, it in no way detracted from the great story, and chilling secrets revealed in the end.

A great read, and worth digging for.

Carlotta, The Big Sister P.I.
Illegal aliens, immigration officers, fear and distrust combine for a great book. The author has intertwined the abuse and turmoil illegal aliens face and written an interesting and captivating tale. The main character, Carlotta, standing six-one with red hair, demonstrates her strength while maintaining her allegiance to others. As the dead bodies emerge, Carlotta is determined to identify the victims and find the killer. The police can't get fingerprints and the people who might know something won't talk. Mix in the tender relationship Carlotta has with her 'little sister' Paolina, the complicated relationship with her ex boss, and the drive she maintains to solve the crime, and you have a book you don't want to put down. The variety of characters created by the author provide a humorous, yet realistic, aspect to the book. Very entertaining and enjoyable to read.

Not bad, considering...
After reading the reviews and editorial blurbs about this one I didn't expect to like it. Everything seemed too goooood, what with a female PI big sister, illegal aliens, poverty, ya dee yaa dee yaa. I'm honestly not certain why I tried it on.

I'm glad I did. Boston's changed a lot from the city I lived in during the early 1960s, but not so much it isn't recognizable and enjoyable. The characters don't beat the reader over the head with the social ills we all know about. We aren't preached to with in-your-face feminism, mostly, and there's a degree of finesse when it happens at all. In those instances it passes for a more-or-less legitimate young female with attitude, arguing about who gets to drive and why, who pays the check, etc etc etc, realism we don't have to like in the character to believe in a way to suggest it's not so much a social bludgeoning as actual characterization.

I was never tempted to trash this book before I finished it. I don't believe you'll be, either.