Steel Guitar

by Linda Barnes

Book Overview

A Boston PI tries to help a musician friend-and find a murderer-in this "gripping" mystery by an Anthony Award-winning author (Publishers Weekly).Six-foot-tall, redheaded ex-cop and Boston-based... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385300131
• ISBN13: 9780385300131
• Release Date: October 1991
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 257 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Fun Read with Female Sleuth

I'll make this review short and sweet. This is another book in the 'Carlotta' series. I found it fast-moving with a likeable female private eye. The novel deals with rock and roll, plagiarism, the blues, blackmail and past secrets. It is juicy and fun. I recommend for the beach or plane. It's a good page-turner.

Tall Carlotta Solves the Mystery (with a little help from her friends)

I enjoyed this little book a lot, and looked forward to coming back to it after putting it down for a while. This is the first book I have read by this author. Everything takes place in Boston. That was fun for me, because I lived there for a few years, but I had forgotten the geography. The "Steel Guitar" is a song, and guitars are like little Gods among this crowd that Carlotta used to belong to, and still does in some ways. Dee Willis is the goddess of the steel guitar, having learned from an old blues man, the Reverend Gary something. Anyway, all of that was just background for the real mystery: Who is trying to blackmail Dee? Or is she herself in on the scam? The only part that raised my eyebrows was the night, at midnight, when Carlotta noted that the Red Sox game was held up because of rain, and would be called by 1 if it did not stop. Does this mean if the rain had stopped, the Red Sox would have started the game at midnight? Well, only a baseball aficionado would care about something like that. Diximus

Satisfying

Admittedly, I am a late comer to the Carlotta series, but this was one of my favorites. This particular plot forced Carlotta to face her past and exposed some uncomfortable feelings - jealousy of Dee. The interaction with her ex was necessary and helped her come to terms with her current feelings. I thought it was a very moving story with a very poignant ending.

Carlotta confronts her past

Carlotta Carlyle gets a surprise customer in her taxi one night. It's Dee Willis, a famous singer, who used to be Carlotta's best friend until she stole Carlotta's husband from her. Dee now needs Carlotta's help in finding Davey, a mutual friend of theirs. Davey is accusing Dee of stealing songs which he wrote and passing them off as her own. Carlotta's investigation brings her in contact with several old friends, including her ex-husband. As usual, she is conflicted about her love life, which in this book includes three different men. As in her other books, Linda Barnes writes an interesting tale with a good plot and well-defined characters.

Deserves a Reprint!

If you can find this book, grab it. Number four in the Carlotta Carlyle mystery series, it offers a great deal of interesting background into Carlotta's life, none of which has been discussed in any depth in the previous three books.The plot centers around an old friend/enemy, Dee Willis, now a blues/rock superstar. In Boston for a major gig, Dee looks up her old pal Carlotta, not for old times' sake, but to help find a missing mutual friend from long ago, a fine blues guitarist who fell into a life of drugs and booze. There's a serious reason why Dee wants Carlotta to find Davey--but doing so unlocks emotions for Carlotta that she'd rather keep buried. Emotions due to the fact that, way back when she and Dee were in the same band, Dee stole Carlotta's husband, bass guitarist Cal.Carlotta agrees to find Davey, but in doing so, she has to slog through old business and old feelings--and confront Cal, something she has never been able to do since he left her. A good mystery, a good story, and a real key into Carlotta. I don't know why it's out of print!