Published by Soho Press.
Inc,
9 May 2019.
ISBN: 978-1-64129-026-5 (PB)
9 May 2019.
ISBN: 978-1-64129-026-5 (PB)
The
story is set in Paris in September 1999 and opens when lawyer Éric Besson is
visited without warning by Monsieur Solomon, a very old and very ill man.
Solomon entrusts Besson with a notebook that he has kept since the 1950s, which
itemises all the details of money laundering by corrupt police officers that
Solomon has helped with his accountancy skills. Solomon insists that the
notebook is taken to the authorities straight away and Besson sends his
eighteen-year-old nephew, Marcus to do the job. Instead of going straight to
complete his mission, Marcus stops off to spend time in a cheap hotel with his
girlfriend, Karine. Two days later, Marcus is found, dead, and Karine and the
notebook have disappeared. The police say that Marcus’ death was a drug deal
gone wrong but Besson does not believe this and turns to Private Investigator
Aimée Leduc to discover the truth, locate Karine and recover the notebook.
Since becoming a single mother to
ten-month-old Chloé, Aimée has attempted to stick to cyber security work and
not undertake dangerous investigations, but this case strikes very close to
home. It is a continuation of a case she worked some years before, when she had
exposed the Hand, a ‘deep-rooted protection racket run between police and
government ministries’. Aimée had thought she had destroyed the Hand, but now
it seems that it has changed shape and gained power again. Aimée knows that she
has been a target of enmity for corrupt cops ever since she exposed them, and
even honest police officers blame her for breaking the solidarity of the
brotherhood of officers. Even worse, Aimée has never known how deeply her dead
police officer father had been involved with the Hand, and it seems his name is
in Solomon’s notebook. Despite the danger, Aimée has to take this case.
Aimée’s investigation takes her and her
PI partner René into danger and deception, and the death toll mounts as they
pursue the case. Aimée has many good friends to turn to for help but, with
corruption and deception rife amongst the police and government officials, it
is impossible to know who to trust. Soon Aimée finds that she has done the one
thing she had sworn not to do and placed her own life in such danger it seems
probable that little Chloé will be left without her maman.
Murder on the Left Bank is the eighteenth book featuring Aimée Leduc. It is a fast-paced
book with an intriguing and complex plot and a fascinating protagonist, both
chic and practical as she juggles the complex demands of a demanding job and
motherhood. Surrounding Aimée is a complex network of likeable friends, all
with their own history, dreams and desires, and because of this it would be a
good idea to start reading earlier in the series. The book works well as a
stand-alone story and the author is meticulous in providing relevant back-story
but I would have liked to know more background for Aimée and her friends and
enemies.
Murder on the Left Bank is an exciting and interesting book that introduces the reader to some fascinating, little known places in Paris and describes them magnificently, and also explores some of the darker places in recent history. It is an excellent read and I recommend it.
Murder on the Left Bank is an exciting and interesting book that introduces the reader to some fascinating, little known places in Paris and describes them magnificently, and also explores some of the darker places in recent history. It is an excellent read and I recommend it.
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Cara Black was born in
Chicago but has lived in California’s Bay Area since she was five years old.
Before turning to writing full-time, she tried her hand at a number of jobs:
she was a barista in the Basel train station café in Switzerland, taught English
in Japan, studied Buddhism in Dharamsala in Northern India, and worked as a bar
girl in Bangkok (only pouring drinks!). After studying Chinese history at
Sophia University in Tokyo. She is the New York Times and USA
Today bestselling author of eighteen books in the Private Investigator
Aimée Leduc series, which is set in Paris. Cara has received multiple
nominations for the Anthony and Macavity Awards, a Washington Post Book
of the Year citation, the Médaille de la Ville de Paris—the Paris City Medal,
which is awarded in recognition of contribution to international culture. Murder
on the Left Bank her latest.
Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative
Writing teacher. She is the moderator
for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly Dames. Her crime novels are set both in contemporary
and Victorian times. The Terminal Velocity of Cats the first in her Scene of Crimes novels,
was published July 2013. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. To
read the interview click on the link below.
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