The Snake Tattoo [Hardcover]

Linda Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1989

Carlotta Carlyle, ex-cop, struggling private eye, and 6'1" of long tall redhead, takes any case that walks through the door. This time the door opens twice. First in is her old partner, Lieutenant Mooney of the Boston police, unfairly charged with brutality, suspended, and desperate. The witness who can clear him is a hooker with a snake tattoo...and she's vanished.

The second client is a teenager with a missing wallet and a split lip. He's been roughed up on the Boston streets while searching for his runaway girlfriend. He's too young to be a client, and Carlotta should have turned him down. Shoulda, woulda, coulda...didn't.

Both investigation send Carlotta into Boston's Combat Zone and the dark alleys of the human heart. Hookers don't disappear and kids don't take off with good reason. Now Carlotta is coming face to face with the evil that men do, and what is she going to do about it? Tackle it head on....

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The award-winning author of A Trouble of Fools rekindles her 61 redheaded female private eye, Carlotta Carlyle, in a rivetingly well-told story. Her old friend, Lieutenant Mooney of the Boston police, is under investigation for excessive brutality and Carlyle is trying to track down the lone witness who can clear his name, a blonde hooker with a snake tattoo. While on surveillance in Boston's Combat Zone, Carlyle (who drives a cab to make ends meet) accidentally gets a fare and a second case; a troubled teenage boy, freshly rolled for his wallet, tumbles into her cab and involves her in his search for a missing classmate. The boy's case takes Carlyle to the Emerson School, a mini-Harvard prep school, whose putting-green grass and stately buildings seem worlds removed from the Combat Zone's alleys and three-story flophouses. But after she discovers the body of Emerson's drama teacher, Carlyle realizes the spotless image is a facade. There are surprises at the finish, made all the more potent by the novel's unforced paced and charm. Mystery Guild main selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Redheaded, free-spirited private detective Carlotta Carlyle returns ( A Trouble of Fools) for another unforgettable Boston excursion. Simultaneously juggling two cases, Carlotta searches for a 14-year-old runaway girl and a blond hooker with a snake tattoo on her leg. Because of a mother's seeming indifference to her daughter's plight, the runaway's fate preempts most of the skillfully interwoven plot, even though a policeman's career depends on the hooker's testimony. The narrative moves right along, however, featuring sprightly dialogue, offbeat characters, upbeat action, and Combat Zone surroundings. Bright, witty, and a touch sarcastic.-- REK
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 290 pages
• Publisher: St. Martins Press; 1st edition (February 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312026439
• ISBN-13: 978-0312026431
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,296,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carlotta Needs a Bathtub, July 31, 2002

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Snake Tattoo (Mass Market Paperback)

In this gritty, quick, and amusing sequel to "A Trouble of Fools," no-nonsense PI Carlotta Carlyle has her hands full every way she turns. Her dear friend Mooney is all over the Boston tabloids, accused of being a cop on the take. Her beloved Little Sister, a spunky hispanic child named Paolina, is stuck in Colombia with no way home. A missing persons case involving a teenaged rich girl is beginning to smell like big trouble at Boston's preppiest high school. And to top it off, Carlotta's bathroom is being remodeled in deep brown and day-glo orange by The Twins, shady brothers who divide their time between the job and Carlotta's roommate Roz.

All in all, Carlotta wants a long, hot, uninterrupted bath. But the only person she can think of who has the bathtub of her dreams is Sam Gianelli, her currently off-again passionate lover who also happens to be the son of Boston's Godfather.

The plot is fast and furious, and the mysteries are satisfying in this 1990 outing. Carlotta's real concern for Mooney, a stalwart and dedicated cop who's been framed, is shared by the reader. And her palpable disdain for the rich-kids' tony prep school is equally shared. But this doesn't mask the real essence of the book: Will Carlotta's bathroom ever be finished?

A fun read. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This writer is FUNNY, September 25, 2005

By 

Marta P. Grunland "mountaingirl" (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Snake Tattoo (Mass Market Paperback)

A good rainy-day author. Here's an excerpt "I had the strong feeling that [they] were in a Plymouth Reliant motoring toward some southern state where you could marry your first cousin provided you were both over the age of eight." Such wry wit permeates the book and makes for a fast, fun read. I'm glad she's written so many other books. I can't wait to read them all.....

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Carlotta looks for missing women, August 1, 2004

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Snake Tattoo (Mass Market Paperback)

Carlotta Carlyle can barely makes ends meet with her two jobs as a cab driver and a private investigator in Boston. She counts herself fortunate when she gets two cases at once, but she soon regrets her decision to take them both. Her first client is a young teenage boy who hires Carlotta to track down a 14-year-old girl who is missing. The second case involves Carlotta's longtime friend and ex-boss, Lieutenant Mooney, who asks her to track down a missing witness who can testify for him in a case against a man who accuses him of assault. As these two cases unfold, Carlotta has to deal with two irresponsible plumbers who threaten to turn her bathroom into a garish horror. Author Barnes artlessly weaves the criminal cases in with Carlotta's personal life which is often hilarious and never dull. This is a worthy follow-up to Trouble of Fools, the first book of this enjoyable series.