Linda Barnes

Flashpoint Linda Barnes

When six-foot redhead ex-cop and Boston-based private investigator Carlotta Carlyle agrees to help an elderly recluse burglar-proof her apartment, the last thing she expected was that the woman would turn up dead. Now Carlotta must find out why the eccentric yet seemingly harmless Valentine Phipps isolated herselfand needed protection. Who would want to hurt Valentine? What was she hiding behind closed doors? Is there a connection between her murder and an age-old mystery that the citys top brassand its real-estate mogulswant to keep buried? But the most troubling question of all involves the victims home health aide, Gwen: Why did she introduce Valentine to Carlotta in the first place? The race to catch one of Bostons most ruthless and ambiguous criminals has just begun.