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Heart of the World (A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery)
RRP: $24.95
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You Save: $ 24.95 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Author: Linda Barnes
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price:
You Save: $ 24.95 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Author: Linda Barnes
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
Average Customer Rating:
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Heart of the World (A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery) Description
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
Format: Bargain Price
Label: St. Martin's Minotaur
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2006-05-02
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
Product Release Date: 2006-05-02
Studio: St. Martin's Minotaur
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
Format: Bargain Price
Label: St. Martin's Minotaur
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2006-05-02
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
Product Release Date: 2006-05-02
Studio: St. Martin's Minotaur
Editorial Review of Heart of the World (A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery)
When private investigator Carlotta Carlyle is wakened by a late-night phone call, she discovers that her “little sister,” Paolina, the child with whom she was paired years ago by a local mentoring program, is missing. Carlotta combs the Boston streets looking for Paolina, torn between anger at the thoughtless teenage runaway and anxiety that something has really happened to her.
Paolina is more than a sister to Carlotta. She’s the daughter she never had, or never owned up to having. She’s the one constant in Carlotta’s life, more reliable than Sam Gianelli, her mob boss lover, a man whose always unpredictable behavior has become increasingly mysterious.
Heart of the World, Linda Barnes’s most intense, personal, and suspenseful Carlotta Carlyle novel yet, follows Carlotta’s trail from New England to Miami to Bogotá and beyond as she probes the connection between Paolina’s disappearance and the corresponding disappearance of the Colombian drug lord father Paolina has never met.
A breathless and shocking read, Heart of the World is perhaps Barnes’s best.
Paolina is more than a sister to Carlotta. She’s the daughter she never had, or never owned up to having. She’s the one constant in Carlotta’s life, more reliable than Sam Gianelli, her mob boss lover, a man whose always unpredictable behavior has become increasingly mysterious.
Heart of the World, Linda Barnes’s most intense, personal, and suspenseful Carlotta Carlyle novel yet, follows Carlotta’s trail from New England to Miami to Bogotá and beyond as she probes the connection between Paolina’s disappearance and the corresponding disappearance of the Colombian drug lord father Paolina has never met.
A breathless and shocking read, Heart of the World is perhaps Barnes’s best.
Customer Reviews of Heart of the World (A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery)
Customer Rating: 
Review Summary: As Good as Gold
Review: Wanted children have middle names, but not Paolina Fuentes. She is fortunate in being the little sister of Carlotta Carlyle, Private Investigator. She has been missing for five days. A complication is that Paolina is the daughter of a supposed Colombian drug lord.
Carlotta travels to Miami pursuing a lead. While in Florida she remains in contact with friends and associates in Boston, hoping that someone or something has developed illuminating Paolina's disappearance. Carlotta is directed by a police source to an outfit doing digital scans. There is a hit. A passenger to Bogata several days ago resembles Paolina.
I cannot in good conscience detail further ramifications of this well-executed plot. Suffice to say that there is much excitement. The Boston connections comprise some of the more interesting aspects of Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle mystery stories.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Barnes is good again
Review: Linda Barnes is again spinning a good story. For those looking forward to Boston-based scenes the transition to other parts of the world might be a detraction, but it is well worth a read. I did find the plot less believable than other Linda Barnes mysteries.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Best Yet!
Review: Linda Barnes is one of my favorite mystery writers. I love Carlotta, her little "sister", her psuedo-family. Heart of the World is the best yet--wonderful setting in South America and lots of heart-thumping action.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Her best?
Review: I've read all of the Carlotta novels and just love them. Recently I've been feeling that Barnes has just been using her formula, but this one is GREAT! I can't say it is her best, only because of how long ago I read the first, but it either is - or one of the best! After the first few pages this story was one I just couldn't put down.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Didn't think I was going to like it, but .....
Review:
I've been a reader of Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle mysteries from the git-go, finding them one of the more enjoyable series going, especially given the local (Boston) color. But on starting this one, I groaned .... First, there's the Portentous Prologue, some vaguely described Important Event witnessed by an Andean Indian, full of language like "The small man stood still as the iguana stands...." Then, for the first time I think, we get a chapter from the viewpoint of Carlotta's annoyingly teenage "little sister" Paolina. Then, we find out that since the last book, Carlotta has gotten together again with her mobster on/off again boyfriend Sam Gianelli (the twists and turns of this relation have been a definite yawn for me). And I could tell we were somehow going to leave the familiar Boston environs and be treated to the dreaded tax-writeoff travelog of Paolina's native Colombia.
But I plowed on, and within a few chapters found myself getting thoroughly hooked. Carlotta does indeed take over from the "little man" and Paolina, Sam jets off to a mysterious meeting in Vegas, and we're left with our sleuthess sleuthing her way through Boston to Florida to Colombia. Surprisingly, to me at least, the action in Colombia is unabated, and the Colombian history and color is woven in seamlessly, and much deeper and more interesting than I expected. We even return to the scene of the Portentous Prologue, which now makes sense in context. The convolutions of the plot .. who is with or against who, where do Carlotta and Paolina fit in the complex world of what's going on in Colombia ... are devious and peel off layers like an onion.
In the end, several threads of the series appear to be tied up neatly. It hope it's not so, but this would make an excellent finale if Barnes so chooses. If not, I imagine that she will return to the Carlyle mysteries (which had been getting a bit repetitious) with renewed vigor and clarity and space. I think this truly is the best of the series .... so far :-)
Review Summary: As Good as Gold
Review: Wanted children have middle names, but not Paolina Fuentes. She is fortunate in being the little sister of Carlotta Carlyle, Private Investigator. She has been missing for five days. A complication is that Paolina is the daughter of a supposed Colombian drug lord.
Carlotta travels to Miami pursuing a lead. While in Florida she remains in contact with friends and associates in Boston, hoping that someone or something has developed illuminating Paolina's disappearance. Carlotta is directed by a police source to an outfit doing digital scans. There is a hit. A passenger to Bogata several days ago resembles Paolina.
I cannot in good conscience detail further ramifications of this well-executed plot. Suffice to say that there is much excitement. The Boston connections comprise some of the more interesting aspects of Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle mystery stories.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Barnes is good again
Review: Linda Barnes is again spinning a good story. For those looking forward to Boston-based scenes the transition to other parts of the world might be a detraction, but it is well worth a read. I did find the plot less believable than other Linda Barnes mysteries.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Best Yet!
Review: Linda Barnes is one of my favorite mystery writers. I love Carlotta, her little "sister", her psuedo-family. Heart of the World is the best yet--wonderful setting in South America and lots of heart-thumping action.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Her best?
Review: I've read all of the Carlotta novels and just love them. Recently I've been feeling that Barnes has just been using her formula, but this one is GREAT! I can't say it is her best, only because of how long ago I read the first, but it either is - or one of the best! After the first few pages this story was one I just couldn't put down.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Didn't think I was going to like it, but .....
Review:
I've been a reader of Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle mysteries from the git-go, finding them one of the more enjoyable series going, especially given the local (Boston) color. But on starting this one, I groaned .... First, there's the Portentous Prologue, some vaguely described Important Event witnessed by an Andean Indian, full of language like "The small man stood still as the iguana stands...." Then, for the first time I think, we get a chapter from the viewpoint of Carlotta's annoyingly teenage "little sister" Paolina. Then, we find out that since the last book, Carlotta has gotten together again with her mobster on/off again boyfriend Sam Gianelli (the twists and turns of this relation have been a definite yawn for me). And I could tell we were somehow going to leave the familiar Boston environs and be treated to the dreaded tax-writeoff travelog of Paolina's native Colombia.
But I plowed on, and within a few chapters found myself getting thoroughly hooked. Carlotta does indeed take over from the "little man" and Paolina, Sam jets off to a mysterious meeting in Vegas, and we're left with our sleuthess sleuthing her way through Boston to Florida to Colombia. Surprisingly, to me at least, the action in Colombia is unabated, and the Colombian history and color is woven in seamlessly, and much deeper and more interesting than I expected. We even return to the scene of the Portentous Prologue, which now makes sense in context. The convolutions of the plot .. who is with or against who, where do Carlotta and Paolina fit in the complex world of what's going on in Colombia ... are devious and peel off layers like an onion.
In the end, several threads of the series appear to be tied up neatly. It hope it's not so, but this would make an excellent finale if Barnes so chooses. If not, I imagine that she will return to the Carlyle mysteries (which had been getting a bit repetitious) with renewed vigor and clarity and space. I think this truly is the best of the series .... so far :-)