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86th out of 187 books
—
40 voters
The Big Dig (A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery #9)
by
Linda Barnes (Goodreads Author)
Carlotta Carlyle, the six-foot-tall redheaded private investigator, thought that working undercover searching out fraud on Boston's Big Dig would be a challenging assignment. After all, the Big Dig, the creation of a central artery tunnel running beneath crowded downtown Boston is an engineering marvel, the largest urban construction project in modern history, a fourteen b
...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
August 18th 2003
by Minotaur Books
(first published March 4th 2002)
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Barnes back after 4 years off - story is fair but not great...
We include ourselves in the Linda Barnes' fan club having read her previous dozen books (4 - Sprague, 8 - Carlyle); so naturally we awaited this latest in the zany P.I. Carlotta Carlyle series with great interest despite the 4-year hiatus since her 1999 "Flashpoint". Set against the multi-billion dollar Boston highway/tunnel project of the same nickname, "Dig" offers just enough of our familiar characters to please, but a somewhat co...more
We include ourselves in the Linda Barnes' fan club having read her previous dozen books (4 - Sprague, 8 - Carlyle); so naturally we awaited this latest in the zany P.I. Carlotta Carlyle series with great interest despite the 4-year hiatus since her 1999 "Flashpoint". Set against the multi-billion dollar Boston highway/tunnel project of the same nickname, "Dig" offers just enough of our familiar characters to please, but a somewhat co...more
Dec 07, 2010
Kirsty Darbyshire
added it
A bit disappointing on the whole. After a long wait for the latest of Carlotta Carlyle's adverntures I wasn't as thrilled as I hoped to be.
I was pleased with the way Barnes is taking Carlotta's character forwards and the directions that some of the recurring characters are going off in wasn't what I would have expected - this is a good thing. Whether it's true or not I'm not sure, but it feels to me like this series has used the 'two unrelated plotlines veering together on a collision course'
...more
Carlotta Carlyle, ex Boston Cop and now a self employed PI and some time Cab driver gets a job working undercover with various companies working on the Big Dig in Boston. There have been rumors of kickbacks, overcharges etc and she is poking around to see if its true. She is also approached by a woman who hires her to look for her missing border, a young woman who just took off and left her things and dog behind. After doing several jobs she ends up working in the field office of one of the cont...more
Boston's answer to Kinsey Milhone, Carlotta Carlyle, returns in a slippery adventure that sees her going undercover on the world's largest construction project. However, she gets a second job from an elegantly dressed woman who asks her to find her roommate named Veronica James (Veejay). Her fraud investigation on the Dig stalls, but then a construction worker with ties to the company's owners turns up dead, and a break-in at Veronica's home up the stakes considerably.
This is the second Carlott...more
This is the second Carlott...more
I've read one other mystery written by this author and featuring this female private investigator. This one features the P.I. going undercover on a big freeway tunnel project in Boston.
First, regarding the setting. I don't get the same feel for Boston as I do in Dennis Lehane's novels. Perhaps Lehane lives in a grimmer and grittier Boston than Barnes-- but I just don't feel Boston as she writes-- on the other hand, never having visited Boston, her depiction of Beantown may be a bit closer than...more
First, regarding the setting. I don't get the same feel for Boston as I do in Dennis Lehane's novels. Perhaps Lehane lives in a grimmer and grittier Boston than Barnes-- but I just don't feel Boston as she writes-- on the other hand, never having visited Boston, her depiction of Beantown may be a bit closer than...more
entertaining fluff. a bit heavy on the namedropping when trying to describe a scene -- instead of convincing me that it really was set in Boston, it just jarred me out of the story. especially since the protagonist was drinking coffee throughout the story and never once made mention of Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks -- completely unbelievable. :) but put this book in the hands of an occasional Boston tourist, and it would probably ring pretty true and only be an occasionally offputting style.
I liked this okay. I was intrigued by the mystery portion enough to continue reading but I thought it was a bit too entertwined. How many private investigators start with two clients and seperate searches only to find out they are not only linked together but basically the same search. I don't know, not as believeable as I like. I also didn't love the language etc so common in these types of books. I guess I should give up finding some good, well thought, clean, mysteries.
Another solid entry in this series featuring Boston PI Carlotta Carlyle as she sub-contracts to a big investigation firm to look into problems on a construction site on 'The Big Dig.' She's also hired by a wealthy society woman to find her renter who has disappeared with her Jeep. The reader for this one was different from past books and at times I found her inflections a bit annoying...also, all the characters EXCEPT Carlotta, who is indeed Boston-born and bred, had the Boston accent, and they...more
May 22, 2010
Elaine
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mysteries-thrillers-suspense,
kindle
This book is fiction but I'm thinking there is fact in there. I'm interested in reading it cos I visit Boston regularly.
Good story line with a twist. The ending stunk.
This $6.99 Kindle version has poor editing to the point where it's sometimes difficult to know who is speaking as there's no delineation at those times. This Kindle edition was so messed up, it repeated the last several chapters more than once.
3 1/2 stars
Good story line with a twist. The ending stunk.
This $6.99 Kindle version has poor editing to the point where it's sometimes difficult to know who is speaking as there's no delineation at those times. This Kindle edition was so messed up, it repeated the last several chapters more than once.
3 1/2 stars
one good thing about this book - the many fun and recognizable Boston locales mentioned in this story. otherwise, very bland mystery story focused around the Big Dig. there is a weird plot twist, but it didn't lend that much to my excitement or interest levels in continuing this book. I did finish, but when I did it was so anti-climatic and blasé it was not worth the time it took to do so.
Linda Barnes' mysteries are another good selection for fans of female p.i.'s who have great, snappy dialog and are located in the Boston area. I read all of them, but sadly, she's not come out with new ones recently. I did not enjoy her Michael Spraggue novel - she's not as good with gender reversals as Robert Parker is.
This is one of a series of novels featuring Carlotta Carlyle a funky detective/snooper. She investigates corruption, and then murder, on the construction project in Boston known as the Big Dig. It's a central traffic artery that costs more than a fleet of nuclear aircraft carriers. It's a quick, fun read.
Well, I'm sorta on the fence about this book. I might be at a disadvantage because there are other books in this series I haven't read. (I didn't know that until I was half way into this one though). It was good, espically the ending. However, I am on the fence about the main character. I plan on starting back from the beginning abd giving Carlotta another try.
A Murder mystery taking place in Boston , Tewksbury MA, and Derry NH. I lived 25 years in this area and it was fun to trace character movements through familiar territory. I also was living there during all the Big Dig controverses so wonder what is fact and what is fiction.
I have read all of Barnes' books, but this one captivated me the most. Barnes' research into the Big Dig project in Boston was superb. She actually made me want to fly to Massachusetts to stare at a big hole in the ground.
The Big Dig went on forever in Boston (just east of the small Massachusetts town in which I live). It was interesting reading detective fiction about an event that has received a lot of publicity in this area.
Great mystery with wonderfully developed characters and locale. I was hooked on Carlotta. After I read this book, I backtracked and read every one. I now own all 12; that GOOD!
I read a lot of these books in the 80s, maybe 90s. Not quite as good as I remember. Either they've changed or I have, or both. Still a fun read though.
Very interesting!
Good setting for thriller and interesting psychological setup for the heroine PI character. Boston seems a grim and gritty town.
Good setting for thriller and interesting psychological setup for the heroine PI character. Boston seems a grim and gritty town.
I'm surprised there haven't been more novels set in Boston around the area of the Big Dig. This was really good.
Great story! Love Carlotta- a female PI who is truly her own person, in all aspects of her life.
I enjoy reading the Carlotta Carlyle mysteries! Good character development and some suspense.
I haven't read this one yet, but didn't know how to change the rating.
A good mystery--about Boston's you know what! Fun to read about our fair city.
I've read several of the Carlotta Carlyle books. Consistently entertaining--light mysteries.
A new breed of "patriots" brews up a terrorist plot in the works of Boston's Big Dig. Pre 9/11.
I'm not big on mysteries but this one was pretty decent.
Odd to read a pre-9/11 book ... so much has changed.
ON MY WISH LIST
Terrific series
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Linda Barnes is an American mystery writer, born and raised in Detroit, and graduated from Boston University"s School of Theater. She is best known for her series featuring Carlotta Carlyle, a 6'1" redheaded detective from Boston. Carlotta Carlyle is often compared to the hard-boiled female detectives created by Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky. Her new novel, "The Perfect Ghost," which will be publi...more
More about Linda Barnes...
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