The Big Dig (Nova Audio Books)

Rating:
Summary: Carlotta has two clients at once
Review: As usual Carlotta Carlyle is on the lookout for new clients. Suddenly there is an embarrassment of riches and she has two clients. The first one is Eddie Conklin, an ex-cop who is now working for a national security firm. He asks Carlotta to investigate some shady doings at the "Big Dig", Boston's over-budget tunnel project which is supposed to alleviate traffic problems in the city. The second client is a wealthy woman named Dana who wants Carlotta to find her missing tenant. Both of these cases are just the tip of the iceburg of bigger, more serious problems which Carlotta uncovers. I agree with some of the other reviewers that this book suffers a bit because Carlotta's usual supporting cast members are either missing (Mooney) or given small parts (Roz). Paolina is becoming more obnoxious with each passing book, which is a shame since her relationship with her Big Sister was once a very appealing part of the series. Also, in this book Carlotta is so busy running around solving mysteries that she doesn't have time to hang out with her volleyball-playing buddies. Fans of Barnes will want to read this book, but it's not the best in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Tense, entertaining mystery with a likable heroine
Review: Carlotta Carlyle, a former cop and a private investigator, is short on funds. Therefore, she eagerly accepts a new assignment: investigation of possible wrongdoings at the enormous Boston project call the Big Dig. She also take on a seemingly routine missing persons trace on the side.

For a while, the two jobs offer little excitement. However, a deadly accident starts things moving, and soon Carlotta has her fill of suspicious clues--on both jobs.

The plot in this mystery is an entertaining one, with only one whopping coincidence. Everything proceeds in a logical fashion, with both the pace and the tension accelerating through the book.

Carlotta herself is an attractive heroine, principled but human in her minor failings, intelligent but not clairvoyant. In other words, the reader proceeds at about the pace of Carlotta--always a good sign.

The other characters are believable if less richly defined. The book provides solid entertainment, with plenty of suspense and a feeling of satisfaction at the end.

--inotherworlds.com

Rating:
Summary: Great Addition to the Series
Review: 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:
Summary: Good Stuff, Like the Early Robert B. Parker's Spenser Novels
Review: If you like private eye stuff, particularly set in Boston, be sure to take a look at this one. As the review title suggests, this book reminded me of Parker's early Spenser books, before Spenser became bosom buddies with the cops who used to loathe him, and before, in George V. Higgins' words, Spenser started flying, "off to London like he was trying out for his own TV series."

Linda Barnes is not Robert B. Parker, and this fact does not leave me in sorrow's clutch. Barnes knows contemporary Boston, and writes about it well, though I have to admit, there's not enough Big Dig in this for a Big Dig freak like me. There is, however, a good story, starting simply, but quickly becoming complicated. Barnes' PI Carlotta Carlyle, like Spenser a former cop, like Spenser obstinate and determined to get her own questions answered, is a PI you want to stick with, one you can admire. Carlotta gets out there and ruins her pantyhose if necessary to get the job done (though she does cuss about the cost, and remind herself to dress down the next time she has to wiggle under a fence in the mud).

Bluntly, don't get this one for the Big Dig. Get this one for a first-rate job of storytelling, and a terrific character. If Julianne Moore isn't looking at at least one screen treatment based on Carlotta, there's no justice in Hollywood (OK, I know).

Rating:
Summary: The Big Dig is a crushing bore!
Review: Ninth in the Private Investigator Carlotta Carlyle series finds the tall red head detective in the usual binds. Her checkbook is empty, her love live is virtually non-existent, she still pines for the Sam Gianelli (son of a powerful mob boss) and now her leg hurts almost all the time thanks to being shot in the thigh in the last novel. So when Eddie Conklin wants to see her about a job, she quickly agrees to meet with him. After all, not only is he friends with her father from the days when he was a cop, Eddie helped Carlotta when during her days on the job and since then from time to time. Plus, he is offering steady employment and she needs the money.

He wants her to help investigate possible fraud at a variety of construction sites at "The Big Dig" in Downtown Boston. "The Big Dig" is officially named "The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project" and is a massive road-building project in the heart of Boston. The project has been beset by cost overruns and construction delays as well as allegations of fraud and organized crime. In response, a hotline of sorts where folks can call in complaints has been setup and one of the complaints has been assigned to Eddie.

He wants Carlotta's help because the allegation is against Horgan Construction. Eddie knows the Horgan family pretty well and believes that the allegation is false. He wants Carlotta to go undercover and investigate in exchange for a steady paycheck and more work after this case is solved. She agrees and before long has some vague suspicions about certain things but no real proof of a problem. With the sudden apparent accidental death of an employee on site, it becomes clear that Eddie hasn't been totally upfront and honest about the situation and may not want the truth after all.

Frustrated, she quickly agrees to take as second case from a potential client that would not have anything to do with Eddie's situation. While she appreciates the paycheck, she wants the freedom to work a case her way and does so involving a missing roommate. She believes she can work that case in her off hours when she isn't working the other one with no one being the wiser. The two cases pull her in opposite directions leaving her spinning her wheels in each and becoming increasing frustrated with the shallow characters that populate the novel around her.

According to the book jacket this novel is "Suspenseful, unpredictable, and vivid, The Big Dig is a startling return to form for one of the masters of the crime genre." Actually, this book is not any of those things in any way, shape or form. While promotional statements on book jackets are bound to be excessive at times, the reality of the book makes the above statement a damnable lie.

This is an extremely slow moving book where Carlotta through sheer dumb luck stumbles her way to solving the case. It always helps if the criminals are too stupid to be believed and in this case, their ignorance suspends the believability of the book. Furthermore, the plot and the resulting storylines are weak, the action is tepid at best, the solitary sex scene is gratuitous and amazingly weak in its conception as well as being an insult to reader intelligence, and the characters are shallow and very predictable in their actions. The end result of this 275-page novel is crushing boredom and at least one very, very disappointed Carlotta Carlyle fan.

Rating:
Summary: Carlotta undercover as a temp secretary
Review: One of my favourite female PIs returns, working undercover as a secretary on a building site. As well as loving this series, I was intrigued by its setting within the context of the real life construction project known as The Big Dig in Boston, Massachusettts.

Carlotta has been asked to temp as a secretary to check possible fraud on the building site - things take a scarier turn as commonly in crime fiction. She is rather bored though, and can't resist an opportunity to take on a more typical private assignment on the side.

Meanwhile, old characters return but mainly to reinforce the point that you can't turn back the clock. "Little Sister" Paolina who Carlotta mentors is turning into a rebellious young woman, and it's doubtful Carlotta can stop her making her own mistakes. And her old flame Sam is moving in a direction which doesn't feel too positive either.

I enjoyed this book immensely, although it was quite sad in places.

Luci

Rating:
Summary: Lost Kids
Review: The title is attractive. Everyone knows about the huge project in Boston. Carlotta Carlyle, former cop, runs a Detective Agency. The Dig is the biggest construction project in history. Carlotta joins up with a former colleague's outfit, Foundation Security, to investigate fraud at the Dig.

She uses the name Carla Evans on the job with Hogan Construction. The investigation is being pursued through the office of the Inspector General. Carlotta is given no names, no clues. Doing office work in the trailer, she concentrates on the computer system.

What a great idea for a book. Clearly a former Boston police officer would encounter the Dig in the course of her work. Notwithstanding the fact that she is now working full-time for the time being for another concern, she does entertain a request to track a missing person.

How do cops manage the frustration of dead ends, she asks herself. The answer is a lot of divorces and a lot of drinking. Carlotta becomes frustrated when both of the investigations run into dead ends. She cannot see the room of the missing person and she is not supposed to delve too deeply into matter at the Dig. Leads emerge when someone dies unexpectedly.

Rating:
Summary: not a page turner
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: not a page turner
Review: This was my first Carlotta Carlyle book, and I thought it was boring. I will not read another one. I love murder/mystery books and this was not a page turner. The ending was very disappointing.