Trouble of Fools (New Portway Large Print Books) [Import] [Hardcover]

Linda Barnes (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C; Large Print Ed edition (December 5, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745172040
• ISBN-13: 978-0745172040
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 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

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read these in order!, January 15, 2001

By 

A. L. Rubinkowski "alr3" (Chicagoland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Trouble of Fools (Mass Market Paperback)

One does a disservice to an author/series if one reads book #3 or #4 or #5 and then goes back to read #1. Characters develop, relationships develop, and authors develop. I read this first Carlotta Carlyle book before I read the rest, and enjoyed it just fine. Yes, the following books get better as they go along, but you'll have missed out on several important relationship/character points if you don't read this one before you read the others.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Introduces Carlotta, pretty typical female PI book, November 13, 2000

By 

Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Trouble of Fools (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read and enjoyed several of the later Carlotta Carlye books, I thought I'd check out this first book. As a first book goes, it's solid but not stunning. Carlotta and her supporting cast (crazy artist roomie, cab drivers, "little sister") are all interesting enough. The plot seems a bit contrived. The blues music interest doesn't quite ring true. It's as if the author was told to give your character and interesting hobby.

Bottom line -- Don't go out of your way to read this book but at the same time, don't let it put you off from later books in the series, some of which are great reads.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Totally Satisfying, July 15, 2002

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Trouble of Fools (Mass Market Paperback)

If this book were a film, it would definitely be noir. I imagined everything in black and white throughout my quick gallop through these wonderful pages.

Having never read a Linda Barnes mystery before, I was enthralled by the gritty language, the down-and-dirty description of the Boston streets, the no-nonsense tone, and above all, the main character, PI Carlotta Carlyle.

Written in the mid 80s, this book is not outdated in the least. The plot concerns a group of Irish-American cabbies, all over 50, who may be running money and guns for the now-severly-restricted IRA. Accidentally stumbling into their activities while investigating a missing persons case, Carlotta finds herself in very deep trouble--the kind that can easily end in murder.

This is a perfect book to devour one lazy afternoon while shutting the rest of the world out. I loved it, and intend to sample more Linda Barnes mysteries from now on.