Hardware

Description

Private investigator Carlotta Carlyle's moonlighting job as a taxi driver turns into the most dangerous, high-octane case of her career Six-foot-tall, redheaded ex-cop and Boston-based private eye Carlotta Carlyle is "the genuine article: a straightforward, funny, thoroughly American mystery heroine" (New York Post). When Carlotta can't sleep-or when money gets tight-she drives a cab. It's always been a dangerous way to make a living, but lately it's become truly terrifying. In the last two months, nine cabbies have been savagely beaten and robbed, and every time Carlotta gets behind the wheel, she knows that she could be next. How then can she refuse when a rival taxi company hires her to investigate the assaults? Thinking she will be making the world a safer place for cab drivers, Carlotta doesn't suspect that this new case will push her even closer to the edge. The company she works for is co-owned by Sam Gianelli, her sometime lover and a mob-connected businessman whose family knows how to get tough. Drawn into a tangled conspiracy of mafia secrets and high-tech espionage, Carlotta will have to drive faster than ever to stay alive. Hardware is the 6th book in the Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Linda Barnes is the award-winning author of the Carlotta Carlyle mystery series. Her witty, private investigator heroine has been hailed as "a true original" by Sue Grafton. Barnes has also written the Michael Spraggue mystery series and a stand-alone novel, The Perfect Ghost. A winner of the Anthony Award and an Edgar and Shamus Award finalist, she lives in the Boston area with her husband and son. You can visit her at www.LindaBarnes.com.

"Carlotta is an engaging narrator with a brisk, easygoing style. . . . A worthy competitor in the private eye business." -The Washington Post "The most refreshing, creative female character to hit mystery fiction since Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone." -People "One of the most sparkling and irresistible heroines ever to grace the pages of a whodunit." -Chicago Sun-Times "The genuine article: a straightforward, funny, thoroughly American mystery heroine." -New York Post