Cold Case (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries) - Softcover

Barnes, Linda

3.81

1,113 ratings by Goodreads

9780312932664: Cold Case (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312932669 ISBN 13: 9780312932664

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2005

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Twenty-four years ago, teen prodigy Thea Janis vanished from her upper crust Boston prep school. At first called a runaway, she's later named among the victims of a serial killer, a man doing life in Walpole Prison.

Then a new manuscript appears in her family's mailbox. The words cry out from the printed pages, Thea's voice unmistakable even a quarter century since the girl's mysterious disappearance. A new client bearing a dead man's name turns up in the office of P.I. Carlotta Carlyle, looking for her help in finding whoever is sending the book―even if it turns out to be Thea herself.

The investigation leads Carlotta to a prominent Boston family with deep connections and even deeper pockets, and which badly wants the tragic past to stay buried. But after a hit man tries to write his own ending to the saga, the cold case suddenly goes white hot―and Carlotta may be the one who ends up getting burned.

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Review:

"Cold Case" is the police term for an old, unsolved case. Linda Barnes's private eye, Carlotta Carlyle, finds that it's up to her to discover the connection between an old disappearance and a new riddle. Almost a quarter of a century earlier, fifteen-year-old Thea Janis disappeared after publishing her precociously brilliant debut novel, "Nightmare's Dawn." Now, pages from a new manuscript are appearing, all written in Thea's unmistakable voice. Thea's family is in an uproar, and the Boston police refuse to reopen the case, insisting that they already have the missing girl's killer.

In this case, the ingenious P.I. (and part-time cab driver) must untangle a web of blackmail, political corruption, family secrets, and murder. Cold Case is written in fine, breezy style and both Carlotta's attractive personality and the story's twists and turns will keep you hooked until the last page.

From the Publisher:

"With a stylish pro like Barnes doing the plotting, this chilling case won't leave you cold."
--People

"An intricate whodunit-and-why...Barnes is an adroit storyteller and she makes her large cast of interesting characters come alive."
--Chicago Tribune

"[A] vivid puzzler and a walloping good read...lay in the supply of midnight oil before you pick up this book."
--Albuquerque Journal

A selection of the Mystery Guild

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