The Snake Tattoo [Paperback]

Linda Barnes (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books/Fawcett Crest (1991)
• ASIN: B000NSV72O
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,840,734 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.