Murder in Bel-Air by Cara Black: First Paragraph

Murder in Bel-Air by Cara Black, published June 4, 2019, Soho Crime

Murder in Bel-Air (Aimee Leduc Investigations #19)

Genre: mystery set in Paris

First chapter, first paragraph:

Paris. Late October 1999. Monday, Midafternoon

The young woman stumbled on the cobblestones in her worn shoes, fist in her pocket, clutching the steak knife she'd nicked from the cafe. She'd felt eyes watching - fear had charged up her back, impossible to ignore. Her gut had screamed at her to get out of there. 

Now. 

Why hadn't her contact showed?   

A car engine revved up, gears scraping. She glanced back and saw a black Renault slide onto Boulevard Picpus. Her heart pounded. 

Would you read on, based on the opening paragraphs?

Meme: I’d Rather Be At The Beach is the host for First Chapter First Paragraph on Tuesdays. Post the opening paragraph(s) of a book you are currently reading or planning to read. 

Sunday Post: Murder on the Left Bank by Cara Black

I finished reading Murder on the Left Bank by Cara Black, published June 19, 2018, Soho Crime, the 18th in the Aimee Leduc Investigations series set in Paris. I was not disappointed in this new book and love that the author includes so much of Paris in her novel. People, places, streets, atmosphere are all here and would mean a lot to those who have walked these streets in that great city, and mean so much more to those who want to visit and travel in the main character's, Aimee's footsteps. 

A notebook holding secrets from the WWII past of Paris is stolen, and people are being killed by those who want to find and destroy the notebook's damaging evidence. Aimee makes it a point to follow up on these murders and find the incriminating evidence, even while putting her baby in harm's way. A mixture of danger and suspense blends the personal and the professional life of private investigator Aimee, as she goes about her duties while following her deep sense of justice. A five star READ.

Tahoe Skydrop, the 16th in the Owen McKenna Mystery Thriller series, will be published August 6, 2018 by Thriller Press. Thanks to the author for a review copy. Review will be coming soon. I'm enjoying the book right now!

I haven't yet decided which of my library books and TBR books I'll tackle next. There are several on my ereader too that I have started andwant to finish!

What books are you reading this week?
Memes:  
The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,
It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.
Mailbox Monday. Also, Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews

It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

What am I reading this week?

After the Monsoon by Robert Karjel, (Ernst Grip #2). I'm almost finished with this one, set in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, a novel dealing with Somali pirates, a kidnapped family of four from the open seas, a murder of a Swedish lieutenant on Djibouti, and the fight against terrorism. Quite eye-opening and suspenseful.

Next on the list is a library book: 

Murder on the Left Bank by Cara Black, the 18th in the Aimee Leduc Investigations series set in Paris. 

New on my desk is this cozy:

A Dark and Twisting Path by Julia Buckley, the 3rd in A Writer's Apprentice mystery, features an apprentice to a suspense novelist, set in a small town in Indiana.

Meme:  It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.

Book Beginning: Murder on the Quai by Cara Black

Murder on the Quai, a novel by Cara Black, published June 14, 2016 by Soho Crime. I was lucky to find this one available at the library, the most recent in a mystery series set in Paris that I have read and enjoyed. 

Book description: Aimée Leduc, heroine of 15 mysteries in this New York Times bestselling series, is a très chic, no-nonsense private investigator—the toughest and most relentless in Paris. Now author Cara Black dips back in time to reveal how Aimée first became a detective.

Book beginning:
Paris. November 9, 1989. Thursday Night

Standing outside the Michelin-starred restaurant, a stone's throw from the Champs Elysees, the old man patted his stomach. The dark glass dome of the Grand Palais loomed ahead over the bare-branched trees. To his right the circular nineteenth century Theatre Marigny. 

"Non, non, if I don't walk home, I'll regret it tomorrow." He waved off his two drunken friends, men he had known since his childhood in the village, as they laughingly fell into a taxi. Course had followed course; remembering the caviar-dotted lobster in a rich veloutee sauce topped off by Courvoisier brandy, he rubbed his stomach again as he waved goodnight to the departing taxi....

Seems like a foreshadowing, setting the scene for what's to come....I have started the book and am engrossed in the story of the protagonist Aimee and how she first got into the detecting business.

Page 56: 
...After he had related what seemed like a typical evening , he described Bruno's arrival. "With a woman. A looker. Like you." Marc grinned....

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Mailbox Monday: A Mix of Genres

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme to share what you received in the mail.

My mailbox had the following books for review:

Murder in Pigalle

Love Illuminated

The Idea of Him

The Winter Horses


What new books came in your mailbox last week?

Book Review: Murder in the Palais Royal by Cara Black

 

"Who the hell shot Rene, and why does everyone think it's me?" She tried to slow down, control the rising panic in her voice. "I want to give my statement and move on to more important things. Like finding who did this." (p. 21)

Aimee Leduc is accused of shooting her business partner, Rene, who is undergoing surgery in a Paris hospital. She tracks down possible suspects who might want to frame her and harm her friend and partner in the business.

From Goodreads: Eyewitnesses have identified Aimée as the culprit. A mysterious deposit has been made to their firm's bank account, interesting the taxman in their affairs. Someone seems to be impersonating Aimée; someone wants revenge. Two murders ensue. How do they relate to the youth whom Aimée's testimony sent to jail in the very first Aimée Leduc investigation, Murder in the Marais ?

My comments:
I like the free-spirited heroine of the series, her flair for fashion, her doggedness in tracking down clues in a mystery, and her faithfulness to her friends. She is especially good at getting the right information from reluctant witnesses or even unreliable sources. And she is one of the best guides to Paris there is.

In previous books, she has taken us into the catacombs underneath the city of Paris, into the various arrondissements of Paris, the neighborhoods full of history which author Cara Black has imbued with mystery in her ten novels. In Murder in the Palais Royale, Aimee ventures into the underground tunnels in the arrondissement, adding to the intrigue and suspense of the plot, and giving us more of the flavor and past of Paris.

I recommend reading the first and best novel in the series, Murder in the Marais, along with this latest book, as the people and plots are linked, though they are both excellent as stand-alone reads. I'm looking forward to more in the series, too. Each of her books is set in a different neighborhood of Paris. There are 20 arrondissements in the city and she her books are set in 10 of them!

Cara Black is the author of nine previous books in the best-selling Aimée Leduc mystery series. She has been nominated twice for an Anthony Award. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son and visits Paris frequently.(Goodreads)

Soho Press, Inc. provided a copy of this book for my objective review.

Challenges: Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge, 100 + Reading Challenge

 

Book Review: Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black

The best thing about reading the mystery novel, Murder in the Latin Quarter, was Paris itself, the old Paris that author Cara Black is so fond of describing. This time she takes us into the catacombs and tunnels underneath Paris, and also to the Latin Quarter with its history of philosophers, its students, and its new immigrants.

The Haitian community of Paris in 1997 are a mixed group. Some of them are still tied to the Haitian dictatorship under Papa Doc Duvalier. Some work for international organizations such as the World Bank.

Background: a renowned Haitian scientist is killed in Paris after discovering high levels of lead in the liver of Haitian pigs, possibly caused by the water supply on Haitian farms. Coincidentally, a water supply company in Haiti is in Paris petitioning the World Bank for funds.

The plot develops when Aimee Leduc is drawn into the mystery after a Haitian woman comes to her office, Leduc Detective, begging for help, fleeing from an unknown danger, and claiming to be Aimee's half-sister. The woman, Mireille, takes fright, leaves the office suddenly, and disappears into the illegal immigrant underground.

Aimee is desperate to find out more about her half-sister. She finds out that Mireille used to work in the Paris lab of the murdered Haitian scientist and is a suspect in the case. Aimee wants to prove her sister innocent and scours the Left Bank, the Latin Quarter, and underground Paris to find her.

The book gives us a strong sense of the city as well as the old underground Paris, now used by students in the Latin Quarter. Medical students from the Sorbonne hold regular parties in the catacombs; others show films there.

They call themselves cataphiles. Cataphiles hang out in the underground, light their way with catalamps, and avoid the cataflics, Parisian police in blue uniforms who patrol the catacombs.

Comments: Detailed description of location, names of streets, and directions, which I think only a Parisian can follow or would want to follow. The plot is a bit far-fetched, as are some of the characters. Focused as it is on one set of people, I was left wondering how the Haitian community actually fits (or doesn't fit) into the larger Parisian community.

But Paris is the main character. And she is always fascinating!

Besides Murder in the Marais, one of my favorites in the series, which I reviewed, is Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (An Aimee Leduc Investigation)

Book Review: Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis by Cara Black

Cara Black's mystery novels are each set in a different neighborhood of Paris. Her most recent in the series is Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (2007).The main character in the series, Aimee Leduc, owns a detective agency with her business partner, Rene, a four-foot dwarf who is a computer whiz. They work mainly in computer security and together they provide systems administration, systems management, and computer security to businesses, government agencies, and whoever else can help pay their bills.

In the novels, Aimee gets caught up in the lives of the Parisians in the different quarters of the city - the young and the old, immigrants and long time residents, people who remember the war and the lives changed by the war. As she solves crime after crime in the city, she also uncovers old secrets and ghosts, stories of guilt and grief, love and hope. Paris is steeped in history and its old buildings, even the underground sewers and tunnels, the river Seine, the cobbled streets all work their way into her interesting and original plots.

I've read all the books in the series and have listed them all below as I was impressed with the story line, the characters, and the novels' strong sense of place.

(Did I forget to mention that the main character has a bichon frise like mine? Aimee's dog is named Miles Davis, after the jazz musician. Mine is called Harvey though my sons named him Double-Oh-Seven James Bichon.)

Cara Black lives in San Francisco but travels often to Paris. and is working on her next Aimee Leduc mystery, which is probably also set in Paris. The title of each of her previous novels indicate the area of the city in which her plot is centered: Murder in Montmartre (2006), Murder in Clichy, Murder in the Bastille, Murder in the Sentier (nominated for the Anthony Award, 2003), Murder in Belleville, and her first, Murder in the Marais (1999).

Here's an interview with Cara Black done by crime writer, Peter Lovesey, for mystery readers.org's At Home Online. See http://www.mysteryreaders.org/athomeblack.html

Cara Black in turn interviews Shanghai native and mystery writer, Qiu Xiaolong, author of the Chief Inspector Chen Cao series, Death of a Red Heroine and A Loyal Characer Dancer. See http://www.mysteryreaders.org/athomeqiu.html