FLASHPOINT: A CARLOTTA CARLYLE MYSTERY (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries)

Carlotta Carlyle is a six-foot-tall, red-haired, half Irish-half Jewish, independent private investigator, who is a former Boston cop and she is currently without a client, a steady paycheck or any other visible means of support. She was briefly married a decade earlier and she isn't having much luck with the current crop of men in her life. She goes to the gym regularly, where she plays on a volleyball team, but doesn't know her teammates outside of the gym. One particular teammate, however, a shy young woman named Gwen, asks Carlotta to have coffee with her. It turns out she's a home care volunteer and she's worried about an old woman, named Valentine Phipps, she has been taking care of in a seedy apartment building. Valentine says someone has been trying to get into her apartment. Carlotta doesn't take her fears too seriously, but agrees to help burglar-proof her home. However Valentine dies, seemingly from natural causes, before she has a chance to install new locks. However her death is suspicious, because she appears to have been reaching for pills. Carlotta learns that Valentine was the last tenant still under rent control and she starts to get suspicious. Then it looks like Gwen is being accused of the crime, she's black with priors, after all. So now Carlotta is on the job. I found this book to be highly entertaining. I especially liked the way Ms. Barnes played all the multicultural characters off against each other, it really helped this interesting and exciting mystery come to life.

I am so glad that I read this book without first reading the negative reviews!As a devotee of the Carlotta Caryle series, I consider "Flashpoint" to be one of the very best so far. As I mentioned in reviews of Barnes' earlier works in the series, she has attained maturity and depth, both in her characters and her plots, and it all comes together in this book.As those who follow the series know, PI and part-time cab driver Carlotta is a volleyball fanatic as well, playing at the local Y whenever she can. So when one of her team members, a woman she knows only from the games and casually at that, asks for her professional help, Carlotta accepts. In no time, she is drawn into the cruel murder of Gwen's nursing charge: a seemingly harmless elderly woman. Carlotta being Carlotta, she cannot let the murder go, even though her police pals, notably her mentor Mooney, are on the case. And what she discovers leads into a labyrinth of the art world, the music industry and more.Tied in with this interesting plot is the ongoing story of Paolina, Carlotta's Little Sister. For those reviewers who cannot understand Paolinia in her present highly obnoxious condition, I say go to the mall and take a look at the typical 14-year-old girl! Not the best age in any circumstances for the average female, and certainly not for one whose mother has suddenly abandoned her completely. Is she a rotten brat throughout the book? YES! Will Carlotta be able to get her through this phase and see her to adulthood? That's every mother's question and fear--and I found it completely believable. What was not so believable was the transformation of the mother, Marta, from a very sick woman disabled by arthritis to a sexy vamp on the prowl for men. This transformation was explained in a sentence or two, and sat badly with me throughout the rest of the book. But it did not ruin the story.There is very little of the wonderful Gloria in this book, and not enough Mooney or Sam Gianelli (all regulars throughout the series), but there is more than enough of Roz, the impossibly erotic free spirit who inhabits Carlotta's rental roooms.All in all, a simply great addition to the series. Don't believe everything you read in the negative reviews--try it for yourself! I think you'll be glad you did.

First of all let me say this: How anyone could possibly give this book, or any other Carlotta Carlyle mystery a bad review is so entirely beyond me. I think these people must be aliens from a distant and uncultured, illiterate planet, where they read the trash of such authors as William Faulkner that are supposed to be out-of-this-world brilliance. I think not. This Carlotta Carlyle is not, in any way, bad or under-written. Barnes consistenly slams us with an enormously entertaining Carlotta novel. And "Flashpoint" is no exception that literarily-gifted rule.Whenever I mention Linda Barnes to my friends or family, bringing up her mysteries in a conversation with my best friend's mother, I refer to her as my "beloved" Linda Barnes, same as authors like Joan Hess (only in reference to her Claire Malloy books since I loathe Arly Hanks), Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, and Mary Higgins Clark. "Flashpoint" is no way a bad novel. Read this book, and all other Carlyle mysteries by Barnes. I believe that "The Snake Tattoo" was the first in this series.~Steven Harvey

Am I ever glad I read this book before I read most of these reviews! Different people have different tastes, which makes life more fun, but I just can't agree with the negative reviews this book has piled up. Flashpoint shows another level of depth for Carlotta, and masterfully weaves the "usual" characters in with the new ones. Maybe she didn't have quite as much "fun" as she usually does, but business hit her right up front and demanded her attention; can't argue with that. I eagerly await the next. Please keep at it, Ms. Barnes!

After serving as teammates in a volleyball game, Gwen Taymore asks private investigator Carlotta Carlyle to provide security services to elderly Valentine Phipps. Securing a residence is not Carlotta's expertise, but the mention of a fee entices Carlotta.. Reluctantly, she agrees to help the senior citizen feel safer in her rent controlled apartment in the Fenway (not the ball park) section of Boston. Carlotta's efforts fail as someone murders Valentine a day after the sleuth met the retired person. The police feel Gwen is the prime suspect. Unable to fully accept the seemingly shy and kind Gwen as a killer, Carlotta makes inquiries. On the way, she picks up a new client interested in everything and everyone related to Valentine. As Carlotta digs deeper into the death of Valentine, the case takes many twists, not the least being the police's desire to keep Carlotta away from the crime scene. However, the courageous Carlotta will never allow bureaucratic officialdom or even threats to her to halt her investigation. The eighth Carlyle mystery, FLASHPOINT, is an entertaining who-done-it due to the antics of the lead character and her support cast. The murder mystery is engaging except for the out of control climax that actually subtracts from a well-designed plot. The sidebars involving Carlotta's personal life, her little sister, and her tenant Roz add depth to the protagonist and help bring vivid life to Boston. Linda Barnes provides her fans with an enjoyable entry in a pleasurable series.Harriet Klausner