Murder in the Marais

Aimee Leduc Investigations #1

by Cara Black

Meet Aimée Leduc, the smart, stylish Parisian private investigator, in her bestselling first investigationAimée Leduc has always sworn she would stick to tech investigation—no criminal cases for her. Especially since her father, the late police detective, was killed in the line of duty. But when an elderly Jewish man approaches Aimée with a top-secret decoding job on behalf of a woman in his synagogue, Aimée unwittingly takes on more than she is expecting. She drops off her findings at her client’s house in the Marais, Paris’s historic Jewish quarter, and finds the woman strangled, a swastika carved on her forehead. With the help of her partner, René, Aimée sets out to solve this horrendous murder, but finds herself in an increasingly dangerous web of ancient secrets and buried war crimes.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, France, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Audiobook

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Cara Black frequents a Paris little known outside the beaten tourist track. A Paris she discovers on research trips and interviews with French police, private detectives and café owners. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, a bookseller, and their teenage son. She is a San Francisco Library Laureate and a member of the Paris Sociéte Historique in the Marais. Her nationally bestselling and award nominated Aimée Leduc Investigation series has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, German and Hebrew. She received the Medaille de la Ville de Paris for services to French culture. She's included in the GREAT WOMEN MYSTERY WRITERS by Elizabeth Lindsay 2nd editon published in the UK. Her first three novels in the series MURDER IN THE MARAIS, MURDER IN BELLEVILLE AN MURDER IN THE SENTIER - nominated for an Anthony Award as Best Novel - were published in the UK in 2008 and MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER comes out in the UK in 2010. Several of her books have been chosen as BookSense Picks and INDIE NEXT choice by the Amerian Association of Independent Bookstores. The Washington Post listed MURDER IN THE RUE DE PARADIS in the Best Fiction Choices of 2008. MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER is a finalist for Best Novel Award from the NCIBA Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.

She is currently working on the next book in the Aimée Leduc series.

Reviews

[Alline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cara Black reinforces the belief that it must be difficult indeed to write a good mystery; Murder in the Marais is eye-rollingly bad. Oh, I wanted to like it! It's Paris! It's the resistance! We get to learn about just how miserable life was in occupied Paris! But there are just so many problems. From the small ones - her dog, cloyingly named "Miles Davis" NEVER has to go out to pee, and seems to spend all day and night in her apartment or at the local news stand; to the simply annoying - she slips unnoticed into an Issey Miakye shop and - oh! WHAT A SURPRISE! SHE FITS INTO THE CLOTHES AND THEY LOOK GREAT ON HER! Gosh! That's so handy! She's amazingly clever at decoding secret documents, and has an unfailing knack for finding EXACTLY THE RIGHT ONE...She has crazed weasel sex with an evil neo-Nazi but luckily, on the last page, we find out that it is OK since he is REALLY an undercover reporter. There are improbable chases across rooftops, confusing routes all through Paris and the Metro...The book reads like there are big chunks missing - we never get the backstory on so many things, and other info is just thrown in for atmosphere. Ugh. This was really dreadful.

[Jennie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is the first novel in a series about an American/French investigator who takes over her father's agency after he's killed in a terrorist attack. This debut is set in 1993 Paris, and centers around a Jewish neighborhood and a murdered elderly woman who is found with a swastika carved on her forehead. The investigation touches on the sensitive issue of collaborators - Jews who denounced other Jews to the occupying Nazis.

Our intrepid detective in her debut appearance must find out why she was killed, and, of course, whodunnit.

I'm finding the mystery part to be pretty standard. She asks questions and gets chased by baddies. She has a business partner who has made two very very brief appearances in 157 pages, so I guess I'm not supposed to care about him. She has a troubled past. Of course. So far, so fairly run-of-the-mill.

I really didn't like this book, and when I was about halfway through it I listed some reasons why. Now that I've finished, those reasons still stand, with some fleshing out:

1. Cara Black-as-Detective Aimee Leduc describes a skinny, tired, Jewish man as looking like a concentration camp survivor from old newsreels. Not a specific survivor or anything - she just wants us to know he's skinny and tired-looking. I don't even know where to begin listing how very wrong that comparison is.

2. There's a character whose role in this book I have yet to understand after 157 pages, but I guess he's going to be important at some point. He's German, he's former SS, and he's only 68 years old. That would have put him at 14-20 during the war, and I'm struggling with how someone so young got to be an SS officer. Even when Germany was desperate, I could see him getting drafted as a front-line soldier, but an officer? In the SS? Every time we go off on one of his nostalgic musings, I get annoyed at all the "he was only 18" stuff. I tried researching the average age of SS officers but couldn't find any information and then got a little freaked out about typing Nazi names in my search engine, so I gave up. If she had given him just five more years I would have found it much more believable. So he's important because he had a not-at-all-creepy affair with a 14-year-old Jewish girl when he was an 18-year-old SS officer supervising French police (so believable). He seduced her with black market food and left her pregnant, a plot point that's important to somebody who isn't me later in the book.

3. She sleeps with a Neo-Nazi dude the first night she meets him. Seeing as how she met him at a Neo-Nazi rally where she was undercover, she doesn't even have the excuse of not knowing who he is. Let me say that again. She sleeps. With. A. Neo-Nazi. To her credit (I guess), she's self-aware enough to feel sick afterward when she's going home, so I guess that's okay then. Anyway, because she found him attractive and then slept with him, I'm guessing there's something about him we don't know yet....like perhaps he's undercover too? And he's not really a Neo-Nazi? So that'll be okay - except we have to assume he believed she was a Neo-Nazi when he slept with her. Sigh. When I finish this book and find out that he's really a good guy in disguise, I'll update this. Update: Oh, look! she slept with the Neo-Nazi guy AGAIN and yep, on the last page we find out he's a good guy after all. So I was right and it's all okay now, right? All this after she watches him get kidnapped from across the street, does nothing to stop it, and we don't hear about him again until the last page.

4. She named her dog Miles Davis. Since Miles Davis keeps getting mentioned, I have to mention him here. He's cute, he's a puppy, he eats horsemeat, and that's about it. But it's Miles Davis this and Miles Davis that. What's wrong with that? Cara Black specifically told me to pronounce it "Meels Daveez." Sorry, but I just can't, and every time I see his name I get annoyed all over again. It's Miles. Miles Miles Miles. Davis. If you wanted some funky French name for the dog, you should have given it a funky French name.

5. The climax was a completely out-of-nowhere, wtf just happened deal. I would go back and read it to see if I can figure it out but I just don't care.

6. Aimee is being chased all over Paris by baddies who have tried to kill her more than once. She has plenty of time to keep changing clothes and putting on new disguises, but the baddies somehow keep finding her and trying to kill her. So when she arranges to meet one of the Aryan guys (Thierry), I was "treated" to this: "Just because she was on the run, with skinheads and the police all searching for her and unable to return to her apartment, it wasn't reason enough to have greasy hair. Clotilde lathered Aimee's hair with henna as Francoise, the proprietress, escorted Thierry to the shampoo area."

Aimee then has a chat with Thierry while she gets her hair cut, THEN STAYS LONGER TO HAVE HER HAIR PROFESSIONALLY DYED.

I would like to stress two things: first, this was not a funny, witty "chick" book where a side trip like that would have been normal; and second, if it hadn't been 50 pages from the end I would have quit right there.

I have no idea whether I'll attempt a second book. Maybe if I'm desperate and can't find anything else...

[Claude · Rating 1 out of 5]

I haven't finished this book and am quitting, 30% into the book. It is driving me crazy. There are all these pseudo-French expressions, to make it look more French. Only, I spend my time spotting things like pâté, spelt pâte, which is a totally different thing, or expressions like "la double morte" which is supposed for Parisians to refer to both police and taxes (?)
This one is one of Black's favourites obviously since she goes on and on about it.
I have been living in Paris for 68 years and have never heard this phrase. I googled it and ... nothing. Plus the amount of characters that are supposed to be quaint.
I think I wouldn't mind the supposedly "typical" words if they were in another language, but not in French
Giving up.

[Sally · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a remarkably stupid book. Aimée Leduc is a nitwit and manages to pull off impossible stunts throughout the book. Cara Black should not attempt to speak French - she uses it incorrectly throughout the book. Hell, she should watch her English: she described someone as "beat red". Oh really? That is also the fault of her editors for not catching such a glaring and annoying error.

The story is disjointed and even after having read the whole damn book, I'm still not really sure what happened, except she gets rescued by a helicopter at the end, which is so dumb it boggles the mind. She also has her head bashed repeatedly against a gargoyle, which according to Black are found on every goddamned building in Paris (no), with no serious repercussions. There are Neo-Nazis, but she teams up with one of them to find out family secrets (intrigue! but not really), and it turns out that one of the Neo-Nazis is actually a reporter with her friend Martine (surprise! haha!). Good thing she had sex with him and not lederhosen-wearing Leif (which is an odd contrast, because Leif is a Scandinavian name, and lederhosen are worn by Bavarian men as leisure clothing; they are not a national costume of Germany [what? another mistake? say it ain't so!]).

There are too many characters who are not fleshed out and seem to be thrown in to make things convenient (Rene needs a safe place to stay; go to my cousin Sebastien's flat, who appears out of nowhere near the end). We get that her father died and it sucked, but why keep bringing it up when it's really not an important part of the plot?

Also? She has a closet full of disguises. What is she, 8 years old? There are many other ridiculous stereotypes and stupid details. Her dog, Miles Davis, seems to be able to survive being left alone ALL THE TIME and is never fed or walked. Amazing! She uses the word 'alors' too much and incorrectly. All French people eat pate, baguettes (they're crusty!), onion soup (but only at a secret restaurant in Les Halles where all the flics go [another word she's in love with]) red wine, and coffee. Her partner Rene seems to appear only when convenient. Her punctuation is weird.

The only reason I finished this damn book is because it was so horrible it was amusing. Things like leaving the old Nazi, the old Jewess (borrowed from her, do people actually still use that word?), and their bastard Neo-Nazi son in a catacomb to go fight crime are SO BELIEVABLE. She never has any money, yet she has a new silk and wool outfit on all the time, except when she's wearing her Neo-Nazi disguise, complete with fake tattoos. In case you don't know, fake tattoos actually look fake. And enough about her Glock already. Jesus.

I stayed up until 2 am to finish this damn book so I can move on with my life. Please avoid it at all costs. I understand she wrote more of these tragedies? Wow. That's a big waste of trees and ink.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK ABOUT NAZIS I HAVE EVER READ!!! IT MIGHT EVEN BE BETTER THAN THE HISTORY OF HISTORY.

sorry for yelling but that was important. This is a really coolly layered mystery novel set in france. you are dealing with nazi/conspirators/jews from the WWII era, but in a modern world filled with neo-nazis, so you get these great dynamics that ask us fundamentally would a nazi today agree with a neo-nazi, what power did people have, can a fundamentally good person be a fundamentally bad person? you know how wylie coyote walks off cliffs but doesn't fall till he looks down. This book walks off the cliff of postmodern ethics just like that, and for a while it just stands there, stares you down and says "yeah? what are you going to do about it". then it just strolls back in and walks off. in the end you're left a bit like... what the fuck happened to gravity. and of course you just shrug and walk it off.

so I picked this up cause I'm working on making it so less than half the books I read this year are american, well setting aside turns out cara black is an american, but this is so good I bought the next three books in the series and world lit can go fuck itself cause I can't live without cara black at this point. I hope she doesn't turn out like simon beckett and have just written the same novel again, pray for these books, don't make me cry.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Aimee Leduc series.

She's a PI, who is supposed to only investigate computer type stuff, but she never does. She went private after her father, a high ranking policeman, was killed in an explosion.

In this one, Aimee is hired to do a background check on a high ranking German diplomat type. Of course, he's a former Nazi, and the usual neo-nazis try to end her investigation, and her life.

Not bad, but the author is American, so it doesn't quite seem authentic.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This first novel in the Aimee Leduc PI series was flawed, but worth reading. I loved the idea of a private detective series set in Paris, and the plot--which begins with a murder of a Jewish woman, who had a swastika carved on her forehead--sounded interesting.

What made it flawed were the highly unrealistic plot elements (running across Paris rooftops in high heels, amazing recoveries from fights and injuries, a superhuman ability to crack computer systems) and the lack of characterization. Too many characters, and not enough development of those many characters. According to other reviews I've read, she apparently makes some French errors as well (not that I would know).

But flaws aside, it was an interesting read and it appears that her writing improves in subsequent novels (judging from the reviews).

So I will go on in the series!

[FicusFan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in this book because of the setting in Paris. I like a well done, out of the everyday (for me) setting. Then my RL Mystery Group picked this series.

I wanted to like this, and mostly did, though there are some flaws.

The story is of a half French, half American woman, Aimee Leduc, who is a private investigator in Paris, where she lives. She is connected to the business through her father who was a police officer and then went private. She focuses on the computer aspect of investigating. Her father was killed on a case and she has been running shy of field work ever since, though she inherited their detective agency. The story is set 1993. Aimee has issues with her past and a mystery surrounding her mother.

This story focuses on the Marais, the old Jewish quarter in Paris. It has to do with war crimes from WWII, when Jews were deported, and with those who collaborated, survived and have tried to hide their identities and crimes. There is also a tie in to modern times with a Neo-Nazi organization, and the EU trying to come to terms with the influx of immigrants looking for a better life. The setting is not too long after the Iron Curtain came down. In an echo of the past, some of the EU ministers and their countries think deportation and camps are a solution. There is also a secret modern day Nazi organization pulling the strings to keep up the persecution of the Jews, and bring laws into place that reflect their attitudes towards those they consider inferior.

The writing is not bad, and the story flows, though it seems to drag, because the pace is too slow. We spend a lot of time following Amiee around as she goes from office to police station to home and back around again. We watch as she eats and changes clothes, but its too long for too little that happens to advance the story. Her visits with the suspects and witnesses are little better.

She has a pet, and we know its name, but I don't think she ever tells what it is. It eventually barks so we know its a dog, but not what kind. She has a partner, a dwarf, but we know almost nothing about him, and he only appears when she needs his help. A cousin pops up at the end as needed. At one point Aimee is being hunted and thinks so little of wandering the city, with no place to go, that she schedules a hair appointment. There is a lack of depth, and reality to the story.

The descriptions are hard to follow in terms of settings and events, so you have all the ingredients, but can't put them into a picture to match what Black is saying.

There are lot of characters, without much development, and many plot threads. Its hard to keep them all straight.

Finally Aimee seems to be unrealistic in terms of action. She seems to be more of a superhero rather than a real person: climbing over slate roofs in her high heels is just part of the silliness.

Overall, I hope these problems are newbie issues and can be worked out, I think there is enough there, to hold on until she improves. I have other books in the series and will read them.

[Pia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book, Why? Because I can't say it's that good, but I enjoyed it very much.

Aimée Leduc has an investigation agency, mainly tech stuff. When she is approached by a friend of her late father, who wants her to look into an old photograph and break the code/mystery around it she hesitates, but finally accepts.

Then there's a murder, and Nazis, and more murder attempts, and it goes on and on. I think this was, for me, the main problem. We have a tech investigator who suddenly turns into something like James Bond.

But I did enjoy the fast pace, the story was a good one (if you stick to the main plot) and the characters are well described. I really liked the feeling of the city and the way the mc moves around it.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Popvoid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, although I must agree with some of the negative comments that others have made here. She does throw in too many characters too quickly making it difficult to keep track of everyone. At one point, I realized that a character I pictured as a young man, was actually in his fifties (although if I had thought about it, for a minute, I would have realized he had to be). The writing is a little shaky at times, but not terrible. As a first effort, I thought is was fine. It intrigued me enough to start reading the second book in the series. She has an interesting character in Aimee Leduc, and I think that will help the series get stronger as it progresses.

[Juli · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I tried to like this book. A murder mystery series taking place in Paris? Sure! What is there not to like? Well, quite a few things, as it turns out.
It is very rare for me to have such a visceral negative reaction towards a book. I think the main reason why I hated it so much was that I found the treatment of occupied Paris and the deportations simplistic, unconvincing, and borderline offensive. The characters were equally unconvincing. Badly thought out stereotipes, like the haunted Holocaust survivors, or the caricature villains? Thierry behaving like a sulky teenager despite being over 50? I almost threw my kindle at the wall at one of Hartmuth's reminiscing scenes! And then there is Aimee. The savvy-smart-damaged-inapt-unlikable-unrealistic Aimee, who completely ruined this book for me.
Also, at the very least, shouldn't a murder mystery be exciting, as all crime fiction ought to be? Yet, this novel couldn't quicken my pulse even a tiny bit. The mystery itself wasn't much, I figured out the identity of the killer halfway through. Not because I'm so smart but because it was that obvious. Did the writer think the narrative would take care of itself so she doesn't have to craft something clever? Well, she didn't craft much. Her style, the writing was awful. The text read like a movie script, or worse, like the story-board translated into words. Descriptive but unengaging, matter of fact without any real emotions, moving way too fast yet boring...
Thinking about all this, I really don't know why I bothered finishing this nonsense, since I already hated everything about it by 20%. Anyway, other reviewers have done a much better job at pointing out the problems with this book, and with a much better English.
However, i simply must mention one more thing that I found silly beyond belief. Italicizing words and phrases like le vin rouge? Why?!?

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read in the Aimee Leduc series and it will be my last. Why are female detective characters so poorly written? Did the author really believe that it was a good idea in the first book in this series to have her detective involved in a torrid affair with a neo-Nazi? Are we supposed to find that mysterious or admirable or endearing?

If anyone knows a good female detective that I should be reading, please let me know.

[Chris Lilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

There isn't a place for 'Read all you can bear' but that's what I should have ticked. 50 pages to decide I hated it, and a quick scan to see if it improved amazingly, which I don't think it did. Formulaic, styleless, banal. A book that dreams of being workmanlike or efficient. This is a thoroughly bad book, and I've read 2 Lee Child thrillers and some Dan Brown, so I know bad when I see it.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I had heard good things about the series and thought I would try it. Books like this are the reason why I prefer to try out a new author or series in ebook format. They cost less than a paperback or hardback. I would NOT have wanted to spend more a couple dollars on this and I didn't, fortunately.

Aimee Leduc is a private investigator based in Paris. She does mostly security work on the computer. Her late father was a police detective who was killed in the line of duty. One day a Jewish Nazi hunter hires her to decipher an encrypted photo from the 1940s and deliver it to a Jewish woman in the Marais, which is the Jewish quarter in Paris. When Aimee arrives at the woman's house, she finds her dead - with a swastika carved into her head. The man who hired her now wants her to investigate the woman's murder. Things have definitely become more complicated.

It sounds interesting and it SHOULD be - but it wasn't. Ms Black was in serious need of an editor here. The story is too busy with too many details, most of which are unnecessary. The story was far fetched and, oddly enough, boring at the same time. Aimee is something of a Mary Sue - or a female James Bond. She is a computer genius with a black belt, apparently, in some martial art. She is gorgeous and great in bed. Did I mention that her partner Rene is a dwarf? And that she actually CARRIES him around?

What amazes me is that I finished it. I'm not going to repeat the experience. I'm going to delete this ebook and I won't be reading any more of Ms Black's books, especially if they're about Aimee "Superwoman" Leduc.

Seriously, if you want to read about a female investigator, try the Sharon McCone series by Marcia Muller or the Kinsey Milhone series by Sue Grafton. Don't waste your time with this one.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this on my flight to Pittsburgh & enjoyed this first in a series with M.C. Aimee LeDuc, a French American detective who specializes in crimes requiring cyber-skills. And she and her partner seem to be able to hack into the most secure of sites!! Although set in Paris in 1993, WWII era history flows throughout the story as Aimee gets persuaded to investigate a murder that has occurred in the course of her current case. As she pursues a few leads, she is more and more convinced that Lili Stein's murder is connected to one that occurred at Lili's building 50 years ago, the deportation of Jews in the Marais neighborhood and collaborators. There are some twists that keeps one guessing but the biggest twist seemed like a stretch. There are a few times that I rolled my eyes such as Aimee trying to escape a pursuer in high heeled boots across the Parisian rooftops, but no more so than many of thrillers where the M.C. seems to defy all the odds. I will see where this series goes and ah, there will always be Paris.

[Anna Catharina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abbruch nach 33%

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast-paced thriller that links to past dark days in Parisian history.

A confirmed Aimee Leduc fan, this stunning mystery casts its net around the life of Aimee Leduc and draws her (and me) ever more tightly into the centre of a dark web.
It starts when an elderly gentleman, with the look of a survivor searching for lost ones, presents himself at Aimee's office. He utters these words, 'I knew your father, an honourable man. He told me to come to you if I needed help.'
Aimee doesn't take investigative detective work anymore, she deals in corporate security. This seems like a simply delivery, and she needs the money.
Nothing is ever as it seems with Aimee. She finds herself drawn into the hunt for a killer with Nazi ties through circumstances that open her own wounds, haunted as she is by nightmares of her father's death.
This time the past crawls out to confront the future as Aimee finds herself investigating the death of an old Jewish woman who'd been barely a teenager when her parents had been taken by the Gestapo, turned in by a collaborator. Lili Stein had escaped deportation to the camps when Marais had been raided during the Nazi occupation. Now that woman has been brutally murdered and bodies start to pile up, as investigations are mysteriously halted or referred to other branches of the French police and security.
When the final puzzle is brought together it is chilling. The past overshadows the present, lives are turned upside down and old wounds opened and closed. Shocking events mirror each other. Why had Lili boarded up a window? Who fears exposure? Aimee is drawn into the heart of a neo-Nazi organization, dangerous and deluded, in her search for answers.
Aimee finds herself in a fight for her very life, as always impeccably dressed in her designer wear. And this time it saves her life when scrabbling over rooftops pursued by an unknown assassin, 'she had to say one thing for designer wear, it held up under tough conditions.'
(priceless!).
This was a second read for me. It grabbed me just as much now as the first read did.

A NetGalley ARC

[Korynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sort of a Lara Croft of mystery - Aimee Leduc has a tragic history but is more than capable of handling herself and any situation. When she is emotionally blackmailed into a murder investigation she shortly realizes that this challenge is much more complex than she imagined. As other murders occur and she is threatened in every aspect of her life, she continues to pursue false leads despite all the mounting evidence that the solution lies in the past of the Nazi occupation of Paris during WWII. Although a terrible detective, Aimee throws in some James Bond type action with rooftop gun battles, steamy sex with the opposition, loads of accommodating friends, the latest fashionable outfits, local spots in Paris as backdrops, and the latest fancy technological gadgets. Late to the party, she does manage to capture the villain in the most Hollywood spectacular way possible, although she appears to escape any possible retribution for her actions (which seems altogether unrealistic and unlikely to me). Also thrown in is a sub-plot of romantic young love (Romeo and Juliet style) torn apart by being on opposing sides, now older will they learn to forgive and love once more? This is just so trite and badly handled I can't discuss it. Including the coincidence of their love child being conveniently one of the characters introduced.

[Colin Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cara Black's first novel introducing the private detective Aimee Leduc and set in Paris. Aimee is hired by Soli Hecht to look into a downloaded photograph and take it to a Lili Stein. When Aimee arrives she discovers that Lili has been murdered. This leads her into danger, more murder and a story that goes back 50 years to the Nazis occupation of Paris during the second world war, the intrigues, relationships and deception. Who can Aimee trust? A times she thinks that it is not even Inspector Morbier, her late father's friend and work colleague.

The story line is a good one however the flow of the plot lines are disjointed to the extent that at times the story has moved on but the reader is unaware. So of the action is a little far fetched.

Only two stars but may be just enough to read the next in the series.

[Besha · Rating 2 out of 5]

My mom sent me this so I had to read it. My mom usually has a pretty good handle on my taste. However. The main character is basically a French Cayce Pollard with no human failings and more awesome powers. For example, she manages to take a bath and sleep with a white supremacist without losing her mohawk wig or fake tattoos. I wish I had that power. Luckily, because the main character is perfect, it turns out he’s not really a white supremacist, he’s a journalist infiltrating the organization. So everything’s fine! Except that her dad died in a terrorist attack, but I’m sure that all gets worked out in the next book.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

OH MY GOD AIMEE STOP SLEEPING WITH NEO-NAZIS. She sleeps with this dude TWICE, both times fully aware of his views, having met him while she was undercover at the Neo-Nazi meeting. Also she refers to him as a "bad boy." NO. To quote Gin Jenny, "Bad boys are SAD MURDERERS not LITERAL NAZIS."

Yes, he turns out to be an undercover reporter at the end, but she did NOT KNOW THAT.

[Nancy Martira · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's possible that this series gets better after this first book, but I'll never have the chance to find out. The only mystery here is why I waited until I was 100 pages in before bailing on this ridiculously cliched and ham-fisted novel.

[Jonetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aimee Leduc, a young French-American detective living in Paris, is hired by a renowned Holocaust survivor to decode an encrypted message and ends up entangled in a murder investigation in the Marais district of Paris. Her undercover search leads to a neo-Nazi group and lots of intrigue involving current politicians and people involved in the German occupation of France in World War II.

The story was interesting and the characters certainly were a challenge as many were not who they seemed or presented themselves to be. Aimee Leduc was certainly resourceful and extraordinarily skilled at not only investigating the case but in taking care of herself. She's an enigma that this story seemed to only scratch the surface of and I very much liked her personally and as a detective.

Where this story fell short for me was with the lack of depth in developing the secondary characters who are a constant in Aimee's world. It was obvious that these were longstanding relationships but we weren't given enough history to make sense of their roles, especially Inspector Morbier. I couldn't discern if he had a fatherly, antagonistic or lust-from-afar relationship with Aimee. Her partner, Rene, obviously has a backstory but was relegated to pitching in here and there in a confusing way. Aimee's connection to Yves ended up being just bizarre in my opinion.

There was also a lot going on in the story. I didn't have a hard time tracking it but the transitions were awkward. I also felt a bit let down by the ending as there were so many issues that felt unresolved. I like the character so I'm committed to reading at least one more book in the series and hope that this first book bore the pains of establishing the foundation for the rest series.

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found that this was over-plotted with an enormous number of characters and subplots which had odd jumps in continuity. When investigator Aimée Leduc interviews a key figure about half way through the book (Wednesday morning) I had no idea where that lead had even come from. When one of the big bad's henchmen pops up towards the end I had no recollection of where they had appeared previously. That was aside from some of the other absurd situations (a rooftop escape in designer high-heels) and interactions (Leduc has a few romantic liaisons with a seemingly completely inappropriate character) that the characters go through which you can somewhat forgive from an author wanting to provide entertainment.

I was plodding through this very slowly for about 2/3rds of the way until the story did finally start to take off and i did finish it quite quickly then but am not likely to try another one.
This was another reminder not to trust author blurbs, even from someone like Lee Child, whose sense of suspense I normally respect quite highly. His blurb of "One of the BEST heroines in crime fiction" sold me on this book and I feel quite betrayed by that as I had hoped this might be a new favourite series, especially with its Paris locale which is normally one of my favourites.

The plot involves private investigator Aimée Leduc and her partner René Friant getting involved with a murder that turns out to be related to French collaborators with the Nazis in WWII. Dealings with the Jewish community in the Marais area of Paris, present-day international trade negotiations with nefarious subclauses and a neo-Nazi white power group are along to complicate the situation. In the end this all actually came together but not with any satisfaction for this reader.

[Dvora Treisman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rubbish. This book had an unbelievable, far-fetched plot and was clumsily put together. What surprised me the most about it was that I liked it when I first read it, over twelve years ago. I can't imagine how that could be except that maybe I was taken with all the cobblestones and chocolate croissants, the story being set in Paris. So I expected to like it again, but I didn't. At one point towards the end, I thought maybe this is all tongue-in-cheek, and that's why the plot is so improbable. But if that was the case, it would be unforgivably offensive that the author used the holocaust and Nazi occupation as a tasteless fill in for her storytelling.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been intending to read one of these Aimee Leduc mysteries ever since I first served as an author escort for Cara Black at the Texas Book Festival years and years ago. What better time to read the first book in the series, Murder in the Marais, than just before heading out on a trip to France where I will be staying in the Marais?

I enjoyed reading this mystery. I liked the characters. I especially liked the way Aimee Leduc uses disguises to change her appearance during her investigations.

And I learned a lot about the Marais, especially during the occupation.

I may read more of these.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so nice to find a mystery set in Paris!

Aimee is a great character with a tough backstory. A nice combination of tracking down former Nazis with up-to-date computer technology. Aimee puts herself in some dangerous spots and so this book is definitely in the category of hard PIs.

Some missing clues for fair play and where the heck did the helicopter come from?

[Larissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not well written. Plot holes you could drive a truck through. The characters did/said odd things just to move the plot along.

[Margaret Rosen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I fully expected to like this: Paris, murder, detectives, Nazi war crimes... but it was just terrible and ridiculous and badly written.

[Fictionophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would not read another in the series, but I did find the WWII history to be the best part of the novel.