A Trouble of Fools [Large Print]

I have really enjoyed reading the entire Carlotta Carlisle series! Unbelievably relevant even though this first book in a long series was written so long ago. Very fast paced, always complex plots that dove-tail within themselves. Carlotta is more interesting as the series goes on. Carlotta is a typical female protagonist: single, divorced, strong, independent to a fault, and so scrappy! The world created in Boston is detailed and vivid: personal life with 2 ongoing beaus, one the good boy, one the bad boy, and motherly role with her "little sister" and the seedy night world of the cab company offer interesting characters and worlds unfamiliar to explore. Not too gruesome, no explicit sex, but realistic and interesting. Go beyond the first book - Carlotta's world is worth the effort, and this is one of the classic female mystery series. If you like Paretsky, Grafton and Cornwell - you will be happy to discover this series!

A Trouble of Fools (1987) introduces Carlotta Carlyle, an ex-cop and now fledging private investigator, in Boston, Massachusetts. An elderly Irish woman hires Carlotta to find her missing brother, who drives a cab at the taxi company Carlotta used to work for. When the woman is attacked and her house searched, Carlotta finds a pile of money and begins to suspect the missing brother and his cabbie friends are involved with the IRA so the six-foot red-haired detective goes undercover as a cab driver. Carlotta's wit and humanity sparkle throughout, whether she is on the case, trying to figure an angle for collecting the prize her cat Thomas C. Carlyle has won, or protecting her "little sister" Paolina from the drug dealer who has set up shop near her school. http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/B_Authors/Barnes_Linda.html

Carlotta Carlyle doesn't go by the book, which may explain her defection from the Boston Police Department and her subsequent jobs as a cab driver and private investigator. In this first novel of the series, she is approached by an elderly woman named Margaret Devers who is concerned about the disappearance of her brother Eugene. Carlotta takes on the case, but comes up with a lot of blind alleys in her search for the missing man. She returns to her job as a cab driver to do undercover work and introduces us to the dispatcher Gloria who shows a lot of potential as a supporting character, as well as her partner Sam, a former lover of Carlotta's, whose family is into organized crime. Another nice touch is the Big Sister--Little Sister relationship between Carlotta and a young school girl named Paolina. Before the dust settles, Carlotta is involved with the IRA and drug pushers, but she never loses her "moxie" or her sense of humor. This is a good series with lots of potential.

If this book were a film, it would definitely be noir. I imagined everything in black and white throughout my quick gallop through these wonderful pages.Having never read a Linda Barnes mystery before, I was enthralled by the gritty language, the down-and-dirty description of the Boston streets, the no-nonsense tone, and above all, the main character, PI Carlotta Carlyle.Written in the mid 80s, this book is not outdated in the least. The plot concerns a group of Irish-American cabbies, all over 50, who may be running money and guns for the now-severly-restricted IRA. Accidentally stumbling into their activities while investigating a missing persons case, Carlotta finds herself in very deep trouble--the kind that can easily end in murder.This is a perfect book to devour one lazy afternoon while shutting the rest of the world out. I loved it, and intend to sample more Linda Barnes mysteries from now on.

This is the first book in the Carlotta Carlyle series. It is in the same tradition as other female P. I. series such as Sue Grafton. Carlotta is single and moonlights by driving a cab. In this book you will also be introduced to her somewhat wacky roommate and her mob connected boyfriend as well as her "little sister", Paolina. Carlotta is very independent and after all is said and done, seems to want to do the best thing for people. In this book she is hired by an elderly lady to find her missing brother who turns out to be involved with the IRA. There are other twists and the ending came as a surprise to me. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to others; especially to those who like "hard boiled" type mysteries with a female protagonist.