The Big Dig (Carlotta Carlyle Mystery) [Hardcover]

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

The mystery becomes more complex with the suspicious death of a construction worker, the disappearance of the boss's teenage daughter, the FBI's preparations for the April 19th Patriots' Day celebration with several ex-Presidents at nearby Fanueil Hall, and a possible connection to David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.

The ninth in the Carlotta Carlyle series of mysteries, The Big Dig picks up Carlotta's personal life where she left off in her previous novel, Flashpoint. She has recovered from her gunshot wounds and her ill-advised romance with the son of a Boston underworld character (featured in that novel) and is back at work, following a devastating fire at her house in Cambridge. The action here is nonstop, and Carlotta, as a free-wheeling detective who follows her intuition and her heart, defies the stereotype of hard-boiled tough, revealing herself instead as a woman who is particularly sensitive to the needs of children, especially the missing teenager, Krissi Horgan.

Though there are a great many characters to track and numerous subplots and red herrings to follow, Barnes is spot-on with her descriptions of the Dig, the ambience of Quincy Market and its tourist bars, the local traffic routes and landmarks, and the more distant small towns in northern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire which figure in the action. Bostonians will particularly enjoy the local color, but the descriptions are specific enough that those unfamiliar with the area will have no trouble imagining the developing action. Fun to read, with a story that packs a lot of action and further develops the personal background of Carlotta Carlyle, The Big Dig is a quick-paced mystery and fine addition to the series. n Mary Whipple

As someone who has been living through the Big Dig project in Boston for many years, I was thrilled when Ms. Linda Barnes decided to build a story around the project. All we could see during the construction was a big mess that moved daily, disrupting all traffic and making it impossible to know how to go anywhere.

Mention Boston and public works, and the idea of corruption may cross your mind too. After all, Mayor Curley served Bean town from a jail cell during his administration. So when Carlotta is hired to look into Big Dig corruption, I had the story all set in my mind. Carlotta would find the corruption and it would lead right back to the Commonwealth's most well-heeled and established citizens. Wrong!

There's a lot of humor in this story as Carlotta tries to look inconspicuous, yet find out what's going on at the work site. Someone has called in a tip that things are rotten in Denmark. She hasn't found out much by the time that a mysterious event occurs.

At the same time, she takes on an unusual missing person's case. A young dog handler has gone astray, while leaving her dog behind. It doesn't make much sense . . . and Carlotta cannot turn up many leads.

So for most of the story, you see Carlotta having problems rather than being a Superhero Wonder Woman detective. I find that refreshing.

Then, late in the book, the plot develops at a breakneck pace . . . and I couldn't read the remaining pages fast enough to find out what was going on.

Weaving all of the threads together is done masterfully. Even if you usually only like to read about male private detectives solving crimes, you should try this book. I'm sure you'll like it!

After you finish enjoying Big Dig (which is slowly drawing to an end now that the tunnels are open for traffic), I suggest that take a copy with you the next time you are in Boston and imagine the scenes taking place while the main construction was going on. It would make for a great Halloween night!