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Review Summary: Her best ever!
Review: All the Carlotta Carlyle series books are wonderful but this is the best yet. Thank you, Linda Barnes! A strange premise to start out with and lots of other threads from other places but they all come together. It's a joy to see the characters grow and mature. Then, just like in real life, some don't grow at all. I couldn't stop reading.
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Review Summary: Latest, but short, Carlotta Carlyle sequel entertains her fans
Review: Having read every work of Linda Barnes, we're both fans and knowledgeable of the fun-loving, taxi-driving, PI Carlotta Carlyle series. This short novel (212 pages taking out all the blanks) picks up where the prior entry "Heart of the World" left off, with "fiancé" mobster Sam Gianelli out of the country on a suspected murder charge, and Little Sister Paolina recovering from the prior book's horror in a sanitarium. Incidentally, we thought for those that don't know the back story, the early chapters of "Lie Down" don't do enough to orient new readers, which could be a problem. But by chapter six, the plot finally gets rolling as a new client, who wants her supposed soon-to-be-wed boyfriend tracked for just one night, turns up at the morgue with Carlyle's business card in her pocket.
Carlotta spends the remainder of the story, with a huge lending hand from her former boss at the Boston PD (Mooney), tracing what happened, how it might relate to her boyfriend Sam, and whether her relationship with him really has any future. The last few chapters are really fun, not only clearing the mystery but setting the stage for an interesting set of outings to come.
While we did not find this extended novella to be Barnes' best effort to date, we'll admit the pages started turning fast once we got into it. The mystery per se was entertaining, and the resolution and future of Carlotta's romantic outlook was interesting! While new fans might struggle a little with the background, her existing fan base will only more eagerly await the next installment!
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Review Summary: Carlotta's Best!
Review: The book that Carlotta fans have been waiting for since A Trouble of Fools. Ms. Barnes is at the peak of her considerable storytelling skills in terms of plot, setting, theme, and pacing...but of course, its her masterful character development that has kept me turning the pages, and which puts this novel at the top of the series. The Carlotta books have always avoided the "overwritten/overwrought" trap that many mysteries fall into--and this time, the storytelling is both leaner and yet more passionate and satisfying than ever.
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Review Summary: An Incredible story
Review: Lie Down With the Devil is Ms. Barnes 12th in her Carlotta Carlyle series. This book gives us all the necessary things to keep our interest, dealings with the mob, trying to solve the murder of a client, and dealing with her feelings of the men in her life. The book is a gripping tale of betrayal, lust, love and murder. Once you open the first page you won't put it down.
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Review Summary: Great read!
Review: My first book with this author in the Carlotta Carlyle series. I am looking for more! Great storyline and lots of action and one or two surprises :)