Linda Barnes Books In Order

Publication Order of Michael Spraggue Mystery Books

Publication Order of Carlotta Carlyle Books

Publication Order of Harold Middleton Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Linda Barnes is one of the popular authors from America who likes to write novels based on the mystery and thriller genres. She is particularly famous for writing down the Michael Spraggue and Carlotta Carlyle mystery series. Author Barnes was born on December 6, 1949 in Detroit, Michigan, The United States. She completed her graduation from the Boston University with a cum laude from the School of Applied and Fine Arts. After completing her studies, she started working as a drama teacher at Chlemsford and then as a director at Lexington, both of which are schools in Massachusetts. During her tenure as a drama teacher, author Barnes wrote a couple of plays. One of them is the award winning play called ‘Wings’ and the other one is called as ‘Prometheus’. After experiencing initial success in her writing career, she went on to work on the mystery novels and wrote a number of highly successful books in her career. As of today, she lives along with her husband in her home located near Boston. Author Barnes says that she was able to learn about crime quite easily as she was born in Detroit. However, she does not mean any disrespect to the city as she also likes to give credit to the city for allowing her to love Motown music. When she was studying at the Boston University, she liked to walk through the cobbled streets of Boston, ride the T, and breathe the history of the great city. While working as a high school teacher, author Barnes entered into a one act play festival, which was sponsored by the Boston Globe. When she was not able to find a one act play fitting 12 roles, she decided to write the plot of the play herself.

As she kept on winning the competitions right up to the state finals, she was introduced to a man who showed willingness to publish her play. After allowing him to do so, author Barnes began getting more offers for writing a few more plays. Eventually, she wrote several successful plays before going on to try her hand at writing mystery novels. The first short story in the Carlotta Carlyle series ‘Lucky Penny’, went on to win the Anthony Award. The most recent novel of the series titled ‘Lie Down With The Devil’ was listed among one of the top mystery books of the year 2008 by the Publisher’s Weekly. The lead character of the Carlotta Carlyle series is described by the author as a redheaded and tall ex-cop living in Boston, Massachusetts, who now works as a private investigator. The personality of Carlotta Carlyle is similar to that of a woman who always wears her heart upon her sleeves and always talks tough. Quite often, she ends up landing herself in some sort of trouble because of her short temper and no-nonsense attitude. Author Barnes started writing the Carlotta Carlyle series in the year 1987, when she completed and published the debut novel titled ‘A Trouble of Fools’. The success of the initial books in the series helped author Barnes to work on a few more novels and finished the series with a total of 12 books up to the year 2008. Among the prestigious honors received by author Barnes is the American Mystery Award in the category of the Best Private Eye Book. Other than that, she has also been nominated for the Edgar and Shamus awards. One of her books titled ‘The Snake Tattoo’ was regarded as one of the remarkable books of the year 1990, by The London Times.

The Carlotta Carlyle series written by author Linda Barnes is comprised of 12 books in total, which were published between the years 1987 and 2008. All the books in the series feature the central character as Carlotta Carlyle, who is introduced as a cab-driving former cop and a current private investigator in Boston, Massachusetts. The first book in the series is titled as ‘A Trouble of Fools’. It was released by the Minotaur Book publishers in the year 1987. The plot of this book is set in Boston, Massachusetts, The United States. As the story of the book begins, it is shown that Carlotta Carlyle had served for a period of 6 years in the Boston Police Department, after which she was dismissed for insubordination. Now, she has set up a private investigating shop and deals with cases starting from lost pets up to the grander larcenies. Carlotta often operates from outside her house, but then too, the clients do not cease to stop by unannounced. One of her recent clients is the reserved, genteel, and elderly spinster named Miss Margaret Devens. Citing her problems of cash flows and less caseload, Carlotta agrees to accept the case of Miss Margaret’s missing brother named Eugene. It turns out that Carlotta and Eugene knew each other when they used to work at a private can company. Soon, she learns that Miss Margaret has been attacked by a couple of thugs for money, causing her to get hospitalized. When Carlotta investigates further, she comes to know that Eugene was involved in a more dangerous business. She decides to do whatever it takes to search Eugene before it becomes too late for both of them.

The second book in the Carlotta Carlyle series written by author Linda Barnes was published under the title ‘The Snake Tattoo’. It was also released by the Minotaur Book publishers in the year 1989. In this novel too, Carlotta continues to work as a struggling private investigator and takes in whichever case comes towards her. But this time, she gets to work on two cases at the same time. Her first client is her old partner named Lieutenant Mooney from the Boston Police, who seems to have been charged with brutality by some unfair means and eventually suspended. Carlotta finds out that the only person who can help to clear Mooney’s name is a hooker having a snake tattoo, but she seems to have been disappeared. The second client of Carlotta is a teenage boy who was beaten on the Boston streets by some thugs while looking for his girlfriend. The thugs had snatched his wallet and split his lip. Being too young to be called as a client, Carlotta thinks of rejecting his case, but she could not do that because of the scarcity of the cases with her. For carrying out the investigation of both the cases, Carlotta moves into the Combat Zone of Boston as well as the human heart’s darkest alleys. After realizing that she is required to come face to face with the brutal evils, she decides to take everything head on and try to solve both the cases as soon as possible.