Murder in Passy: An Aimee Leduc Investigation Set in Paris [Hardcover]

"Cleanse me from secret faults." -- Psalm 19:12 (NKJV)

Can you think of another recent mystery series based in Paris that provides such rich detail about a neighborhood, its history, its current inhabitants, the lives of those on society's margins, and intriguing looks at a quartier's underground quirks? Anyone who has read more than two books in the series is bound to have found that combination to be intriguing.

I suspect that some people discover Cara Black in the mistaken belief that she provides for Paris what Donna Leon does for Venice. Mais, non! Ms. Leon takes you into the places that tourists would like to go while Ms. Black takes you to places that many tourists probably pray they will never see.

There's also an intriguing choice of detectives by Cara Black that breaks the mold. Her heroine, Aimee Leduc, doesn't want to be an investigator. She just wants to wear vintage designer clothes bought for little, to have exciting times with handsome "bad" boys, and to earn enough money as a computer security consultant at Leduc Detective to keep her home and business. Her pain is not understanding what happened to her mother and father, an intriguing thread that ties the series together. Rene Friant, her partner, is a genius at hacking into computer systems and is an expert in martial arts despite being a dwarf who walks in pain.

In most of this series' books, Commissaire Morbier plays the role of link to police records, guardian angel, tenuous keeper of her father's secret past, and godfather. As such, Morbier's appearances make him often seem like little more than a slightly developed "deus ex machina" to smooth out overly complex plots.

In this book, Morbier comes to life a bit as his personal attraction to Xavierre d'Eslay leads him to drag his career and reputation so far into the mud that neither one might survive.

Aimee, in true Aimee fashion, becomes a well-dressed guided missile in high heels seeking to clear Morbier. Many readers will find this story over the top. It's almost a deliberate caricature of the hard-boiled policier, taken from the PI's perspective. If you keep your tongue firmly in your cheek, the story will work better.

At the end, there's a more intriguing hint about Aimee's hidden family history than most of the books in the series drop. I found myself feeling encouraged that the next story will focus more on that element than most of the books have so far.

I was delighted to be transported once again to Aimee Leduc's Paris in Murder in Passy. Each of Cara Black's books are focused upon a different area of Paris. Aimee Leduc is a private investigator who with her partner Rene own the Leduc Detective Agency which is located on the rue du Louvre in the heart of Paris. Aimee is tres chic running around Paris in couture and designer high heels and of course always wearing Chanel lipstick. In this book, the eleventh Aimee Leduc adventure our heroine is still recovering from her injuries that occurred in the last adventure, Murder in the Palais Royale.

We leap right into the story in November 1997. Aimee has decided to ask Morbier's assistance in locating her brother Julian. And Morbier has a favour to ask of her. Xavierre, Morbier's lady friend, who Morbier had asked Aimee to check up on is murdered and Morbier is the prime suspect. Thus the race is on for Aimee to clear her godfather Morbier. This fast moving, action filled novel is a pleasure to read.

This story explores the Passy section of Paris, the 16th arrondissement, which sounds like a beautiful part of the city. And it also focuses on the continuing fight of the Basques to gain independence from Spain and France. The story also hints at police corruption and everything comes to a head when a Spanish Princess is kidnapped. I was fascinated to learn about the Passy reservoir. I always learn something new about Paris in Cara Black's books. I enjoyed having The Aimee Leduc Companion which I downloaded from the site mentioned above to help keep track of characters and picture where all the action was taking place on the maps...I love maps!

We are given hints in this volume regarding the whereabouts of Aimee's mother. It seems that Morbier has been keeping some secrets. I'm looking forward to Aimee finding out more about her mother and her brother in future books.

I have read the entire series and I highly recommend this eleventh outing of the sophisticated, gutsy Aimee Leduc.

This time out, Aimee Leduc finds herself involved in a case in Passy, one of the many neighborhoods which make up the city of Paris (although arrondissements sounds classier than neighborhoods). Her godfather, Commissaire Morbier, is worried about the new woman in his life, a person who has made him feel young again. Xavierre d'Eslay is a member of the uppermost level of the bourgeoisie although her roots are in the Basque region between Spain and France. Xavierre isn't taking or returning any of his calls. He knows she is very busy preparing for her daughter's wedding but Morbier isn't blessed with self-confidence when dealing with the women in his life. He enlists Aimee's help, asking her to speak to Xavierre just to make sure all is well between them.

Aimee arrives at the d'Eslay mansion at the tail end of her daughter's rehearsal dinner. Xavierre doesn't have time to talk to Aimee; something seems to have upset her and caused an early end to the party. Aimee realizes that whatever is bothering Xavierre has nothing to do with Morbier. She has pulled her partner, Rene Friant, along with her but as they prepare to leave, Aimee hears a noise and senses that she is being watched. A piece of Xavierre's scarf is on the bushes and the woman herself is on the ground, strangled by the scarf.

Morbier is arrested quickly, case closed but neither Aimee nor Rene are going to leave that miscarriage of justice to determine this decent man's fate. Morbier gets a message to Aimee, telling her not to trust anyone, especially the police, because there is a 'leak'. Aimee doesn't know to what 'leak' refers but she soon learns that Xavierre was a member of the Basque group, ETA, when she was young. The political problem of Basque separatism is somehow involved in her death. French security is involved because ETA doesn't discriminate between France and Spain ' both are the enemy.

As with all the books in the series, MURDER IN PASSY takes off fast as Aimee and Rene try to prove Morbier had nothing to do with murder. French Security and ETA terrorists keep the Leduc Detective Agency always moving only one small step ahead.

There isn't a book in the eleven book series that isn't worth reading more than once. MURDER IN PASSY keeps the streak alive.

Cara Black and seven other authors, Timothy Hallinan, Leighton Gage, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Michael Sears and Stan Trollip (together writing as Michael Stanley), Dan Waddell, and Jeffrey Siger, each contribute a post each week to their blog, Murder Is Everywhere. Cara posted an engrossing and informative piece on the Basque movement that is worth reading and will make the Basque element in MURDER IN PASSY informative and explain the seriousness of the problem Aimee and Rene find themselves in.

The link to Cara's blog post is [...]