Steel Guitar [Import] [Hardcover]

Linda Barnes (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; First U.K edition (1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034056525X
• ISBN-13: 978-0340565254
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 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 Deserves a Reprint!, September 8, 2002

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Guitar (Hardcover)

If you can find this book, grab it. Number four in the Carlotta Carlyle mystery series, it offers a great deal of interesting background into Carlotta's life, none of which has been discussed in any depth in the previous three books.

The plot centers around an old friend/enemy, Dee Willis, now a blues/rock superstar. In Boston for a major gig, Dee looks up her old pal Carlotta, not for old times' sake, but to help find a missing mutual friend from long ago, a fine blues guitarist who fell into a life of drugs and booze. There's a serious reason why Dee wants Carlotta to find Davey--but doing so unlocks emotions for Carlotta that she'd rather keep buried. Emotions due to the fact that, way back when she and Dee were in the same band, Dee stole Carlotta's husband, bass guitarist Cal.

Carlotta agrees to find Davey, but in doing so, she has to slog through old business and old feelings--and confront Cal, something she has never been able to do since he left her. A good mystery, a good story, and a real key into Carlotta. I don't know why it's out of print!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Carlotta confronts her past, August 23, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Steel Guitar (Paperback)

Carlotta Carlyle gets a surprise customer in her taxi one night. It's Dee Willis, a famous singer, who used to be Carlotta's best friend until she stole Carlotta's husband from her. Dee now needs Carlotta's help in finding Davey, a mutual friend of theirs. Davey is accusing Dee of stealing songs which he wrote and passing them off as her own. Carlotta's investigation brings her in contact with several old friends, including her ex-husband. As usual, she is conflicted about her love life, which in this book includes three different men. As in her other books, Linda Barnes writes an interesting tale with a good plot and well-defined characters.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Read with Female Sleuth, February 24, 2009

By 

Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Steel Guitar (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'll make this review short and sweet.

This is another book in the 'Carlotta' series. I found it fast-moving with a likeable female private eye. The novel deals with rock and roll, plagiarism, the blues, blackmail and past secrets. It is juicy and fun.

I recommend for the beach or plane. It's a good page-turner.