Cold Case (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries) - Hardcover

Barnes, Linda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385306148 ISBN 13: 9780385306140

Publisher: Delacorte Press, 1997

Synopsis

A case almost a quarter of a century cold turns red hot again when Linda Barnes's detective and part-time cabby, Carlotta Carlyle, gets ensnared in the hunt for the source of a manuscript in the unmistakable voice of Thea Janis, the young literary sensation who disappeared twenty-four years ago at the height of her fame.
Now, pages from an inflammatory new manuscript are appearing, written in a voice that could be none other than Thea's. But a madman sits in a Massachusetts state prison, convicted of her murder. The "Cold Case" squad of the Boston Police won't touch this one--they want to keep it irrevocably closed. Thea's brother, a dashing politician, is in the middle of a hotly contested gubernatorial race and has other problems, with a fiery young wife and a reputation for ruthlessness. Thea's older sister has withdrawn into her own oblivion. And her aristocratic mother finds her refuge in a bottle.
Who wrote the new manuscript? Who is sending it piecemeal to Thea's family, demanding chapter-by-chapter blackmail? Who is playing games with Carlotta with every loaded word? Is Thea alive or dead? Is the author a victim, a plagiarist*or a killer? Carlotta Carlyle confronts demons from the past and from the present as she peels back layer upon layer of a glittering family's dark secrets in Cold Case, her toughest and most intriguing assignment yet.

About this title

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 Back Cover:

LOST SO YOUNG
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.

A VOICE FROM THE GRAVE
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.

A TRAIL GONE COLD IGNITES ANEW
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.

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0385306148
• ISBN 13: 9780385306140
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384