Deep Pockets [Paperback]

Linda Barnes (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: MELIA PUBLISHING SER (February 21, 2005)
• ASIN: B000K715YI
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

More About the Author

I was born in Detroit; I always say that's where I learned about crime, but I mean no disrespect to a great city. It's also where I learned to love Motown music and do the Stroll. Came to Boston to go to college, and like so many, stayed, awed by the Atlantic Ocean and accessible public transportation. I still love walking Boston's cobbled streets, riding the T, breathing the history.
I started writing while teaching high school theater. Required by my principal to enter a one-act play festival sponsored by the Boston Globe, I cast the play before I actually found it. I had such great students that year, and 12 of them certainly deserved to be in the festival cast. When I couldn't find a one-act with 12 roles (duh), I had to write one myself. The festival was a competition, and darned if we didn't keep on winning, right up to the state finals, where a man came up to me and asked whether he might publish that play. I said yes, wrote more plays, and then segued into crime fiction.
My first Carlotta Carlyle short story was nominated for just about every mystery award going, and the first Carlyle novel, A TROUBLE OF FOOLS, was nominated for an Edgar and a Shamus, and won the American Mystery Award. I've got a new book, the eleventh in the Carlyle series, coming out in May. It's called HEART OF THE WORLD. Check my website for upcoming tour details. For the rest, I'm married, mother of a teenage son, and currently proud to be president of Private Eye Writers of America.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, well paced female PI / Cop mystery, April 10, 2004

By 

E. Griffin (Wilton, CT, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deep Pockets (Hardcover)

The Carlotta Carlyle series is one of the best of the strong, independent, female private investigator / cop genre. In the tenth installment, Deep Pockets, Carlotta's case involving a Harvard professor is a referral from her new boyfriend, FBI Agent Leon Wells. Carlotta has little empathy for her new client, not only because of his elitist affiliation with the "world's greatest university," but because the case involves blackmail over the client's love affair with an undergraduate student. Carlotta's uncomfortable relationship with the Harvard professor parallels her equally uncomfortable relationship with Leon. Both men represent "the establishment" to Carlotta, questioning her work methods and her independent desire to be in control.

Carlotta's case quickly expands from blackmail to murder, and introduces complications from her contacts at the Boston Police Department, a cleaning contractor, the professor's eccentric wife, and Harvard University administration. Lies of omission and double crosses by the suspects lead Carlotta in a variety of directions, including some half-truths and breaking and entering of her own. Carlotta's working activities occur against a backdrop of her relationships with Roz, her roommate, and Carlotta's unofficial little sister, Paolo, who is struggling with her awakening sexuality and puberty. As always, Sam Gianelli, Carlotta's ex-boyfriend and mob member, is also haunting her heart and her daydreams.

Deep Pockets is a fast paced, engaging read, and a great addition to this series. The characters and plot are well written and consistent, although the Harvard professor and Leon are a little flat. Carlotta is an appealing hero, largely because of her portrayal as a person with doubts and imperfections and not a superwoman. This is a very good read, relatively fast, and recommended for fans of private investigators and sleuths.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good, March 8, 2004

By 

A. Christie "bibliofiend508" (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Pockets (Hardcover)

A Harvard professor hires Boston private investigator Carlotta Carlyle to track down a blackmailer. The married professor, Wilson Chaney, has had an affair with a young student. His reputation and everything he he holds dear in his life is on the line. The student that Wilson had the affair with had been burned to death a month earlier. It was declared a suicide, but was it? Letters to Wilson started shortly after demanding money. After making a payment, the demands still do not stop so Wilson wants Carlotta to find the blackmailer and reclaim the love letters he had written to the student. The more Carlotta digs into the case the more complicated it becomes including another suspicious death.

This is the tenth in the Carlotta Carlyle series. Linda Barnes does a good job of telling enough of Carlotta backstory to make this book totally stand on its own. I enjoyed the tall, red-haired, independent, strong, stubborn, and oddly vulnerable character of Carlotta. The story really grabbed me from the first page. It seemed to drag a bit in the middle, but really had a suspenseful ending with an unexpected twist. There was a nice balance between Carlotta personal story and the case she was working on. The plot was not overly complicated and easy to follow. Linda Barnes fans won't be disappointed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous detective story, March 1, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deep Pockets (Hardcover)

Boston area private investigator Carlotta Carlyle noticed the mark trailing her throughout Harvard Square. She pulls a magician's trick and accosts her tracker. He insists he was not stalking her, but instead working up the courage to consult with her in a professional capacity.

He explains that "his friend" is being blackmailed and paying failed to end the nightmare. Tenured Harvard Professor Wilson Chaney admits he had an affair with a freshman student Denali Brinkman. Realizing that revelation of his taboo indiscretion would end his career Wilson hires Carlotta to uncover the identity of his blackmailer so he can persuade the person to stop. Though Carlotta literally (only slightly that is) and figuratively (totally) looks down at her client especially over the age of his lover, she accepts the case.

Carlotta digs deep into the background of her client and his former teen lover. She searches for threads at the University and in Wilson's personal life, finding a vehicular death link. Unable to resist, Carlotta goes down the side path that this death takes her not realizing how dangerous her detour will soon prove as there is much more to this case than simply a blackmailed cheating husband

In her tenth appearance, Carlotta remains an invigorating private investigator. Her latest case DEEP POCKETS is a fabulous detective story that starts rather differently, but quite exhilaratingly before turning into a suspense thriller. Carlotta deals with ethics issues throughout the tale beginning with her odious client and continuing when she chose a lane that might not be in the best interest of the professor. This six foot one former police officer still kicks butt as one of Boston's finest.

Harriet Klausner