"Outstanding.... Readers will relish realistic villains and an evocative atmosphere that begs for a trip to the City of Lights."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Wry, complex, sophisticated, intensely Parisian.... One of the very best heroines in crime fiction today."—Lee Child "No contemporary writer of noir mysteries evokes the spirit of Paris more than Cara Black in her atmospheric series."—USA Today | "As atmospheric as anything by John le Carré."—Philip Kerr "Transcendently, seductively, irresistibly French."—Alan Furst "So authentic you can practically smell the fresh baguettes
and coffee."—Val McDermid "I love Cara Black’s Aimée Leduc."—Sara Paretsky |
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Synopsis: Aimée Leduc is happy her long-time business partner René has found a girlfriend. Really, she is. It's not her fault if she can't suppress her doubts about the relationship; René is moving way too fast, and Aimée's instincts tell her Meizi, this supposed love of René's life, isn't trustworthy. Aimée can't kick the feeling that René doesn't know his lady as well as he thinks he does, and is being led on--maybe for a visa. Meizi's very traditional Chinese parents insist on chaperoning every date, and René never gets time alone with her. And now, at her birthday party in a Chinatown restaurant in the Arts et Metier quarter of Paris, he is even giving her a ring!
As it turns out, Aimée's misgivings about Meizi might not be far off the mark. Meizi disappears during dinner to take a phone call and never comes back to the restaurant. Minutes later, the body of a young man, a science prodigy and volunteer at the nearby Musée, is found shrinkwrapped in an alleyway--with Meizi's photo in his wallet.
Aimée does not like this scenario one bit, but she can't figure out how the murder is connected to Meizi's disappearance--there is no way tiny Meizi could have suffocated and shrinkwrapped the dead man. Aimée is determined to protect René, to find Meizi, and discover the truth. It turns out the dead genius was sitting on something huge--a secret project that has France's secret service keeping tabs on him. Now they're keeping tabs on Aimée. A missing young woman, an illegal immigrant raid in progress, botched affairs fo the heart, dirty policemen, the French secret service, cutting-edge science secrets and a murderer on the loose--what has she gotten herself into? And can she get herself--and her friends--back out of it all alive? About the Author: Cara Black is the author of the best-selling Aimée Leduc series, all of which are available in the Soho Crime imprint. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son and visits Paris frequently.
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