October 1, 2023
Aim�e Leduc, Black's irrepressibly savvy Parisian private investigator, is back with a big problem. She's been framed for the murder of her testy ex, Melac, the father of her daughter, and must prove herself innocent even as she figures out who wanted Melac dead. As usual, Black takes us to the less-traveled parts of Paris, this time the far-flung, still cobble-streeted 19th arrondissement. Prepub Alert.
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January 1, 2024
Black is determined to leave no part of Paris unexplored. In this twenty-first book of the Aim�e Leduc series, the engaging and exhausting D�tective priv� (PI) finds herself in the la Villete neighborhood of the nineteenth arrondissement. Villette means "little town" in French. Cozy as it may sound, it is a crime-ridden district, infamous for an unsolved serial killer spree some 15 years earlier. Ironically, it was once famous for its slaughterhouses. Someone has murdered J�rome Melac, the father of Aim�e's daughter, and framed Aim�e for it. While swapping out disguises, she manages to elude the police and, with the help of friends and family, including her mother, Sydney, who is on Interpol's watch list, she chases madly around the winding and dangerous streets with astonishing speed. The pace is relentless, and the plot thickens with each chapter. An odd assortment of crooked cops, biker gangs, drug dealers, grieving parents, and even a WWII Nazi keep the challenges and the clues coming. Best read with a caf� au lait in hand.
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Starred review from January 22, 2024
Black shrewdly ups the stakes in the pulse-pounding 21st mystery featuring French PI Aimée Leduc (after 2022’s Murder at the Porte de Versailles). In 2002 Paris, Aimée has been hired by a government ministry to identify a saboteur at tech startup Glocron. Given the assignment’s covert nature, she’s stunned to discover that an envelope addressed to her was slipped into her purse after a visit to Glocron’s offices. Inside is a letter from her ex-boyfriend, Melac—the father of her daughter, Chloé—who’s been harassing Aimée to pressure her and Chloé into moving nearer to him in Brittany. Melac has been keeping tabs on Aimée at Glocron, and after he has a harrowing encounter with a homeless man he recognizes near the company’s offices one evening, he leaves Aimée a frightened voicemail. The man then stabs Melac before slitting his throat; when Aimée happens on the scene, the attacker knocks her out, plants the bloody knife on her, and flees. Swiftly accused of murdering Melac, Aimée enters a seedy underworld of Parisian biker gangs and ex-cops to track down the real killer. Though Aimée’s innocence is never in doubt, Black maintains expert suspense and keeps things fresh by separating the investigator from her typical allies. This will thrill series fans and newcomers alike. Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown, Ltd.
February 1, 2024
A detective's struggle to raise her daughter in Paris meets an unexpectedly grim obstacle. Despite the dangers and demands of life as a private investigator, Aim�e Leduc has always been attentive to the needs of her 3-year-old daughter, Chlo�. Reliable child care and the help of her friends have allowed Aim�e to resist the attempts of Chlo�'s father, police detective J�rome Melac, to remove the child to his farm in rural Brittany. But now Aim�e's desire to have Melac out of her life for good has succeeded in the worst possible way. His body is found beneath an arched bridge that spans a canal in La Villette, and Aim�e is found on the scene with his blood all over her hands. With the help of her godfather, Commissaire Morbier, she's released from custody, but she knows that her chances of keeping her daughter, as well as her freedom, rest with her ability to find Melac's killer. It had been a voicemail from Melac that brought Aim�e to the scene of his death--"Aim�e...I've just seen a ghost"--and now she begins searching for whomever, or whatever, he'd been talking about. Like many of her investigations, Aim�e's search leads back to an older crime, this time the serial murders committed by le Balafr�, a shadowy figure who terrorized La Villette in the 1980s and '90s. Her investigation features the requisite host of colorful characters who spill out of the biker bars and tattoo parlors of the 19th arrondissement, a bevy of chic disguises, and a few slick car chases. But as usual, the star of the show is the city Aim�e loves. Vintage Black for fans of women's empowerment and life in Paris.
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