Flashpoint: a Carlotta Carlyle mystery

The Boston PI tries not to get scorched when an arsonist targets her. "I'm crazy about Carlotta! More! More! More!" (Sue Grafton). 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 ). Carlotta Carlyle knows all about urban survival. That's why she's happy to do her neighbor, Valentine, a favor like this one. The elderly recluse needs help burglar-proofing her rent-controlled apartment. But it seems Valentine's fears are more immediate and threatening than she's letting on. Because just twenty-four hours later, the old woman turns up dead in her ransacked home. Finding out who'd want to kill a nice old lady lands Carlotta on the heels of a hotshot music executive claiming to be Valentine's last living relative, a real-estate mogul with a knack for eviction, and Valentine's terrified healthcare worker. But when Carlotta becomes the target of an arsonist, she knows she's on to something hot: a city-wide conspiracy that Beantown's top brass want dead and buried—along with the woman who knew too much. Delivering a "twisty plot, colorful language, and even more colorful characters" ( The Dallas Morning News ), " Flashpoint further cements Carlotta's place in the pantheon of contemporary P.I.s" ( Chicago Tribune ).