It's been 6 months in waiting, but I'm finally kicking off Crap Looking Books Of Which I've Never Heard. First in the crosshairs is Linda Barnes' 1989 224 page novella The Snake Tattoo.Now admittedly, this book doesn't look too crap, although it doesn't look that great either. A "Carlotta Carlyle Mystery", it certainly is a title, series, and writer I've never come across or heard about. The title screams cheesy generic mystery with a central iconic image or theme, while the photo on the cover tells me more than enough about the heroine. Delicate, feminine features, hands and make-up are set against the grimy barrel of a pistol, and a tatty denim jacket.
Evidently Carlotta Carlyle is a feminist with a capital F, balancing beauty and mystique with hardness and determination. Even the Sunday Times review on the front cover speaks to this gender dialectic, specifically referring to the author as Ms Barnes.
I feel like I'm going to see Carlotta tackle situations from a perceived "man's world", feel like the very fact of her having her genitals n the inside is going to be touted as a virtue. Cue strong, rich female characters striving independently against a cast of two-dimensional and ineffectual males.
Flipping the book over to read the blurb, it looks like Carlotta's investigations are going to have her "cruising the red light district by night, and by prowling round a very expensive private school". Well, all aboard for a very open and exposed delve into the early 90s perception of the female psyche.
Bizarre claims in the last paragraph that she "has the builders in" are hopefully not as polysemic or metaphoric as they appear.
First impressions out the way, let the reading commence...
Nick
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