Murder in the Palais Royal (Aimee Leduc Series #10)

by Cara Black

Overview

Someone impersonating Parisian P.I. Aimée Leduc shoots her partner, René, and eyewitnesses identify Aimée as the culprit. She must clear herself and find the shooter before she finishes the job

Just as Parisian private investigator Aimée Leduc is about to leave for New York City to pursue a lead on a man who might be her brother, her fellow detective, René Friant, is wounded by a near-fatal gunshot. Aimée is distraught over René’s condition and horrified to be under suspicion for the attack; police have pegged her as the guilty party. At the same time, a large, mysterious sum appears in Leduc Detective’s bank account, and tax authorities descend upon Aimée. It seems someone is impersonating her—someone who wants revenge. But for what?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781569478837
Publisher:	Soho Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/08/2011
Series:	Aimée Leduc Series , #10
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	468,198
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Cara Black is the author of sixteen books in the New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc series. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and visits Paris frequently.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Murder in the Palais Royal

"Forever young, forever stylish, forever in love with Paris—forever Aimée."
—The New York Times Book Review

“Such fun . . . a delightfully unbuttoned Audrey Hepburn for the twenty-first century.”
—Booklist
 
“[Aimée’s] two investigations link in a surprising way—there’s a really ripping ending—and make for interestingly different and over­lapping tension. And with Aimée really on the defensive, she’s more appealingly tough yet vulnerable than ever. With its multiple strands, this work has a somewhat different feel from other Aimée Leduc novels. But never fear, it’s still a winner.”
—Library Journal


Praise for the New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc series

“Transcendently, seductively, irresistibly French.”
—Alan Furst

“Wry, complex, sophisticated, intensely Parisian . . . One of the very best heroines in crime fiction today.”
—Lee Child

“So authentic you can practically smell the fresh baguettes and coffee.”
—Val McDermid

“As always, with airfares so high, Black offers armchair travelers a whirlwind trip through the City of Light.”
—USA Today

From the Publisher

Before Aimée Leduc can go to New York to meet a previously unknown brother at the start of Black’s solid, if less than suspenseful, 10th mystery to feature the Paris PI (after 2009’s Murder in the Latin Quarter), dogged Inspector Melac arrests her for the nonfatal shooting of her partner, René Friant. A woman impersonating the stylish PI entered the Leduc Detective office and shot René with a Beretta. Someone, Aimée decides, is trying to frame her. Improbably, Aimée gains her release by pulling strings with her godfather, Commissaire Morbier, so she can investigate on her own. The trail leads her to Cardinal Richelieu’s former Palais Royal, where bistro waitress Clémence Touvier schemes to blackmail the prominent mother of a neo-Nazi arsonist whose accomplices Aimée helped convict. Clémence’s strangulation in the Palais arcades ups the ante. In the end, Aimée must confront dark revelations about her fugitive mother, who may have a part in the sinister plot against her. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

In Aimée Leduc's latest investigation (after Murder in the Latin Quarter), the crime is upfront and personal—not only has Aimée's partner, René Friant, been shot but Aimée herself is accused of the crime. In addition, a large amount of money has mysteriously appeared in Leduc Detective's account, prompting official investigation, and a young man Aimée helped pack off to jail for anti-immigrant activities demands to see her—and then ends up an apparent suicide. Bien sûr, this would not be an Aimée Leduc novel without political concerns, and Aimée's follow-up of the convicted man's death—even as she tries to clear her name and figure out who really shot René—leads her straight into the hate-filled terrain of neo-Nazi agitation and Les Blancs Nationaux. These two investigations link in a surprising way—there's a really ripping ending—and make for interestingly different and overlapping tension. And with Aimée really on the defensive, she's more appealingly tough yet vulnerable than ever. VERDICT With its multiple strands, this work has a somewhat different feel from other Aimée Leduc novels. But never fear, it's still a winner. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 11/1/09.]—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

Library Journal

With an impeccable French accent, Carine Montbertrand leads the listener through the arrondissements of Paris as private eye Aimée Leduc encounters a seriously bad day that just keeps getting worse. A disastrous date is followed by the near-murder of her partner and the financial destruction of their business when 100,000 francs suddenly appear in their account and the tax men are alerted. Life-threatening moments are not as tense as could be, but Montbertrand’s low-key delivery works wonderfully for Leduc’s humorous entanglements with political foes, villains, and suspects. Some tangled threads in Black's tale are not woven tightly, but Leduc solves the financial imbroglio and recent attack on her partner as well as a decades-old murder. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2010 - AudioFile