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.


Carlotta Carlyle goes prep and porn   March 27, 2001
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

In this, the second installment of the Carlotta Carlyle series, Barnes successfully combines the New England prep school scene with the pornographic combat zone of Boston. It's not an easy thing to do, but it works quite well here.

I enjoyed this book more than the first book. Carlotta is growing as a character and was easier to warm up to. I also got a kick out of Barnes' take on the prep school scene -- having visited more than a few in my days as an admission director for a liberal arts college.

The book is a little out of balance -- she's also on a case to get her buddy, Mooney, of the hook and his case takes a back seat to the preppie case. I'm also got a bit tired of the "humorous" interludes involving the remodeling of Carlotta's bathroom.

Bottom-line: An enjoyable read for Carlyle fans but not worth lots of effort if you can't find a copy easily.


Carlotta looks for missing women   August 2, 2004
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

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.


The Private Cop -- Carlotta   October 24, 2004
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The book fills with tense, actions, humor, and funny. The whole book is unpredictable! it makes me keep guessing what is going to happen next. It makes you laugh when you are nervous about what is going happened next. The book is fun and easy to read, and I love the main character! The book brings out a lot of dark sides of real life but without making reader feel depressed or hopeless about the world. When I was reading the book, I see and understand more bad sides about the society, but the writer brought it out by warm and fragrant way.

Because of the main character was a policewoman and became a private cop. She always has a lot of situations need to solve, and has to social with different kinds of people in her daily life. There always must be many things that annoying her, but she always can make her own happy in any kind of situation; she is pretty optimistic! Her personality makes readers fill with hopes and happiness while reading the book.

While I was reading the book, I not only learned how to solve problem by Carlotta's inference, but also learned how to look at things from different sides. Linda Barnes - the writer of the book, she wrote the whole story with stimulation and humor, it is really good for teenagers to read the book after school. She teaches readers things while readers enjoy reading. There is no hard word or sentence in the book; it is a good choice to read after a whole day work to relax!


This writer is FUNNY   September 26, 2005
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

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.....