Murder at the Lanterne Rouge

Starred review from January 23, 2012
At the start of Black’s outstanding 12th novel featuring PI Aimée Leduc (after 2011’s Murder in Passy), Aimée attends a birthday party for Meizi Wu, the girlfriend of René, her agency partner, in the smallest and oldest of Paris’s four Chinatowns. Aimée, who believes the smitten René is rushing the relationship with a virtual stranger, goes to look for Meizi after she disappears from the party. On a snowy, rat-infested street, to Aimée’s horror, she finds the body of Pascal Samour, an adult trade school teacher, half-wrapped in plastic, with Meizi’s photograph in his wallet. Aimée and René are soon immersed in an underworld ring of human trafficking, sweat shops, fake designer goods, and fraud. That the victim turns out to have been conducting cutting-edge experiments in fiber optics adds to the intrigue. Readers will relish realistic villains and an evocative atmosphere that begs for a trip to the City of Lights. 8-city author tour. Agent: Linda Allen, Linda Allen Literary Agency.

February 1, 2012

Murder in the Marais. Murder in Passy. Going strong since 1999, Black's Gallic series has always taken place in a particular district of Paris. But this time the story takes place at the Lanterne Rouge, a restaurant where Aimee meets friend and business partner Rene and his new Chinese beloved, Meizi, dining with her stern parents. Alas, Meizi is called away by a curious phone call and disappears; when Aimee and Rene go looking, they find a freshly murdered young man whose wallet contains Meizi's picture. Soon Aimee is scouring Chinatown, discovering a community of cruelly exploited illegal immigrants while also talking to the victim's Armenian great-aunt, who fought in the Resistance. A missing file, a clubby group of friends at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, a secret about a certain kind of glass, dating from medieval times and set to rock the contemporary world--all figure in this dependably entertaining work. VERDICT Just as there's a change in title (and cover design), so the novel leaves one suspecting that the Aimee Leduc mysteries are about to take a new turn. Always a pleasure to read. [Thirty-city tour.]--Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2012
She grabbed her leopard-print coat and locked the office door. Twenty minutes later she ran up the Metro steps, perspiring and dodging commuters. Who's doing the running? Aimee Leduc, of course. The Paris investigator is a perpetual-motion machine, and she's almost always inappropriately dressed for high-speed galivanting: heels, miniskirts, leopard printsAimee never sacrifices style for convenience. This time her destination is the oldest and smallest of Paris' four Chinatowns, nestled in the Marais. Her assignment is to deliver a birthday present intended for her partner Rene's mysterious new girlfriend, Meizi Wu, but soon enough, Meizi has disappeared, and Aimee must find her before the distraught Rene falls apart completely. As always, that's only the beginning. Thickening her plot like a French chef stirring coq au vin, Black throws a murdered scientist, a human-trafficking scandal, the Knights Templar, and revelations about Aimee's long-presumed-dead mother into the pot, leaving readers nearly as breathless as Aimee, who hurtles her way toward the conclusion. Fans of the series know the formula and don't mind a bit that it rarely varies. Paris never needs a new look, and neither does Aimee Leduc.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)