Linda Barnes: A Trouble of Fools (USA 2018)

From the Publisher:
This award-winning debut mystery introduces a Boston PI who's "one of the most sparkling, most irresistible heroines ever to grace the pages of a whodunit" (Chicago Sun-Times).

Six-foot-tall, redheaded ex-cop and Boston-based private eye Carlotta Carlyle is "the genuine article: a straightforward, funny, thoroughly American mystery heroine" (New York Post).

Let go from the Beantown police force for insubordination, Carlotta Carlyle is ready for business. Her first client is the genteel and elderly Margaret Devens, whose brother, Eugene, one of the last in a handful of Boston's aging Irish cabbies, has suddenly vanished.

The case should be a cinch. Carlotta knows the territory. She even knew Eugene. But when Margaret is attacked, Carlotta fears the disappearance is just one hitch in a bigger scheme. Trolling the local pubs for clues isn't going to hack it. Especially when she finds herself at odds with the FBI and a Mafia-connected former lover. As a moonlighting cabbie, Carlotta knows the streets well. But even she has no idea just how dangerous a route she's taken...

Winner of the American Mystery Award and nominated for both the Edgar and Shamus Awards, this first book in the series is "beautifully plotted, exciting, moving, and leavened with wit" (Robert B. Parker).

Linda Barnes: A Trouble of Fools. A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery. Open Road Media, ISBN: 9781504053075 (June, 2018), eBook, 2.46 MB (ca. 274 p.), $7.99.

Linda Barnes: A Trouble of Fools (USA 2005)

From the Publisher:
TROUBLE...
Since being bounced from the Boston police for insubordination after six years of service, Carlotta Carlyle has set up shop as a private investigator ready to deal with anything from lost pets to substantially grander larcenies. Though Carlotta, a six-foot-tall, redheaded ex cop, part-time cabbie, and neophyte private eye, works out of her home, it's rare that clients stop by unannounced. Especially clients like the genteel, reserved, elderly spinster Miss Margaret Devens.

ALWAYS COMES...
With cash flow problems and a caseload so light that she's taken to reading her cat's mail, Carlotta accepts the case of Miss Devens's missing brother Eugene. Oddly enough, Carlotta knew Eugene when they worked together back at Green and White Cab. As far as Carlotta sees it, this case should be a pinch -- until two thugs looking for money send her client to the hospital.

WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT...
The old lady's missing brother seems to have been involved in something much more dangerous than simply driving a cab. Carlotta is determined to do whatever it takes?work the cops, pose as a hooker, and even drive a cab again -- to find Eugene before it's too late.

Linda Barnes: A Trouble of Fools. A Carlotta Carlyle Novel. St. Martin's Press, ISBN: 0312359438 (June, 2005), 240 p., $6.99.