Murder in the Rue de Paradis
An Aimee Leduc Mystery by Cara Black
Review: French private investigator Aimee Leduc looks into the murder of her fiancé of but one day in Murder in the Rue de Paradis, the seventh book in this series by Cara Black.
It's 1995, a time of turmoil around the world and especially in Paris. Terrorist attacks, Metro bombings, and assassinations, with the conflict between the Turks and Kurds taking center stage. Aimee is thrilled when a lover from her past returns safely from Turkey where he was on assignment. Yves Robert, an investigative journalist, not only wants to remain in Paris, he wants to marry Aimee. Thrilled, she agrees. But the next morning Yve's body is found in a nearby alley, his throat slashed. The police record the incident as a robbery gone wrong, but Aimee is convinced he was the victim of a political hit. Her subsequent investigation seems to support her conclusion, but she's met with resistance at every level of the police department who tell her in no uncertain terms to stop interfering.
Murder in the Rue de Paradis is a frequently bewildering mystery. The plot seems almost as convoluted as the back streets of Paris through which Aimee must navigate to pursue the truth. Contributing in no small part to the confusion is the author's frequent use of French colloquial terms. No doubt intended to lend an authentic flavor to the story, they instead tend to detract from the story. The setting itself already serves this purpose and is quite descriptive, even atmospheric.
It can be tricky constructing a credible mystery using as a backdrop the politics of the Middle East, and for the most part it works here. Still, Murder in the Rue de Paradis presents a bit more of a challenge than many readers may want to take on.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Murder in the Rue de Paradis.
Acknowledgment: Soho Press provided a copy of Murder in the Rue de Paradis for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Selected reviews of other mysteries by this author …
Murder in the Palais Royal
Soho Crime (Hardcover), March 2010
ISBN-13: 9781569476208; ISBN-10: 1569476209
Location(s) referenced in Murder in the Rue de Paradis: Paris, France
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Murder in the Rue de Paradis by Cara Black
Publisher: Soho Press
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-56947-474-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-474-7
Publication Date: March 2008
List Price: $24.00
Synopsis (from the publisher): Aimée Leduc is thrilled when her one-time lover, Yves Robert, an investigative journalist, returns from his assignment in Egypt and proposes marriage. She accepts and Yves places a Turkish betrothal ring on her finger. But after a single night of bliss, he meets a dreadful fate. The next day, Aimée is summoned by the Brigade Criminelle to identify a corpse found in a doorway in the Rue de Paradis. It is Yves. According to a witness, his killer was a woman in a chador.
Determined to avenge her lover's death, she ventures through Paris's Little Istanbul district. The trail leads to a sleeper jihadist and she becomes embroiled in Turkish-Kurdish political controversy.