Hardware: A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery - Softcover

Barnes, Linda

3.76

939 ratings by Goodreads

9780440212232: Hardware: A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440212235 ISBN 13: 9780440212232

Publisher: Dell, 1996

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Using her computer to track down a killer who is targeting cab drivers, private investigator and part-time cabbie Carlotta Carlyle tries to uncover the truth about a stolen computer operation and her own boss's deceit. Reprint.

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From the Publisher:

In her sixth spellbinding adventure, Carlotta Carlyle, the 6'1" redheaded P.I. from Boston, takes on a case that draws her into the mysterious shadovaand of computer technology, where information is cheap, and privacy may be a thing of the past. Part-time cabbie Carlotta is entering the modern age of investigation. With the help of her sometime lover, mafioso, and computer-hobbyist Sam Gianelli, she invests in her first "hardware," a cheap personal computer. And at the urgingof her ex-boss, Boston Police Lt. Mooney, who decries the stopping power of her .38 S&W, she decides to upgrade her arsenal. Both types of hardware come in handy when Carlotta is hired by Gloria, owner of G&W Cab, to investigate the brutal robberies that are causing her cabbies to quit in record numbers, and the violence and unanswered questions escalate. An explosion rocks G&W, killing Gloria's brother and seriously wounding co-owner Sam Gianelli. Is someone out to bankrupt G&W to acquire its invaluable cab medallions? Is the company a pawn in a Mafia vendetta, with Sam, the underboss's son, the target? And who put that tiny microphone near G&W's bathroom? Aided by a mysterious databank expert, Carlotta learns far more than she thought possible about "private" transactions. And she finds herself digging into Sam's past, exposing secrets he's kept hidden for years--secrets that begin to pull them further apart. As the investigation reaches its climax, Carlotta realizes, almost too late, that the mob may be just a fall guy in a very intimate crime.

"Like the best of the new detectives, V.I. and Kinsey, she is a woman of wit and gravity, compassion and toughness, a heroine worth spending time with."--The New York Time s Book Review

From the Back Cover:

WARNING:
Part time Boston cabbie and PI Carlotta Carlyle has been hired by a rival cab company to investigate a series of attacks targeting Boston area cab drivers. It seems somebody is after their medallions. Then Carlotta discovers hidden microphones in the garage at the taxi company she works for. But when she brings it to the attention of Sam Gianelli, the company's co-owner and Carlotta's off again on again lover, he doesn't want the microphones disturbed. But he won't say why.

TAKE THIS TAXI...
Just when Carlotta thinks things can't get anymore mysterious, she is almost killed in a drive-by shooting when she is picking up her new personal computer, which she bought from Sam's friend. Was it a targeted hit, or a random drive-by? And why has Sam's friend suddenly disappeared?

AT YOUR OWN RISK...
When Carlotta is asked to look deeper into the robberies that are now causing drivers to quit in record numbers, the danger escalates as she stumbles upon a secret that could change her life forever-that is if she can stay alive...

"Barnes can turn a phrase well enough to make even Paretsky and Grafton jealous."
-Houston Chronicle

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