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BIG DIG, THE
by Linda Barnes
Minotaur Books, November 2002
275 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0312282702


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

This new adventure of Carlotta Carlyle has been a long time coming. Carlotta is an ex-Boston police officer who has set herself up as a private investigator and drives a cab in order to put food on the table. She has had a relationship in the past with the son of the local Mafia leader, but the son was not a made man. She has a Little Sister, Paolina, who is becoming difficult for her to influence. She is recovering from a serious wound and has not been able to work for several months.

Thus she agrees to work for Eddie Conklin who's agency is in the employ of the Massachusetts Investigator General probing scandal and malfeasance connected with the Big Dig. (If there is anyone who does not know what that is, it is the project that ultimately, at a tremendous cost overrun, will built an underground highway through the center of Boston, a worthy thought if not being executed quite as planned.)

Carlotta's third assignment is at Horgan Construction, run by husband and wife Gerry and Liz Horgan. Carlotta works as a file clerk and receptionist in the command trailer for that section of the construction. She is also hired, on the side, by Dana Endicott, a wealthy woman who is looking for a young lady who used to room with her, Veronica James. She insists Veejay would never have left her dog behind.

Pursuing these two cases keeps Carlotta quite busy and both begin to grow a little dangerous. When a worker who was acting rather oddly toward Liz Horgan is found dead on the construction site, a real element of danger enters. Carlotta snoops around and begins to discover strange facts which slowly begin to form a pattern.

The book does appear a bit dated. It clearly was mostly written in 2000 and while it deals with terrorist activities, it makes reference only to the Oklahoma Murrah bombing as the epitome of terror attacks. The fear, of course, is that terrorists will try the same thing as some place along the Big Dig. But it does have the feel of being a bit out of sinc with what has happened over the last two years.

The story is intriguing and the two cases lead the reader into a complex of questions and ultimately answers. Things are not what they seem and Carlotta stumbles over some facts which surprise even her.

Carlotta is an interesting and authentic character. I have always enjoyed her although I suspect she is going to fail with Paolina who seems to be growing beyond anything a well-meaning person can fix is an hour a week. But she is personable, human, believable, and enjoyable to follow. The other main characters are less well delineated but seem to be realistic as well. The action, towards the end of the book, is nonstop and while we know the good guys are going to win, it is still a race to the finish line.

Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, November 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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