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Murder In The Latin Quarter (2009)

by Cara Black(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1569475415 (ISBN13: 9781569475416)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Soho Crime

series

Aimee Leduc Investigations

review 1: I have decided to rethink my rating system, having realized that 2 stars is totally underutilized. This book was okay and somewhat enjoyable. I would read another one (perhaps the next one, as this one ended in a cliffhanger). I liked the scene-setting, which is Paris pre-Euro and pre-macaron craze. Which is around the time I last went there, so at least things make sense. Aimee reminded me of a better-dressed, more sentimental Claire Dewitt, or at the very least they share a certain concussed, hungover hot-mess vibe. I did not understand the plot whatsoever, as there was so much going on (Haiti and the Duvaliers, swine, the World Bank, human trafficking, immigration, black magic, cybersecurity, fax machines) that it never came together. I didn't really like the Fre... morench vocabulary interjected here and there ("non" is completely unnecessary; "flic" is fun if that's really how French people refer to the cops -- I kept wondering if it would be like a French language mystery set in the US in which the cops were constantly referred to as the fuzz). I also wished that Black could convey Aimee's stylishness without naming designers, which was tiresome even if the clothes were allegedly vintage. Overall the book gave off a nice hazy sepia tone, sort of a constant slanted light, that I enjoyed. Wholly unnecessary, offhanded comment about "most people" thinking all Asians look alike -- seriously, just don't.
review 2: Private detective Aimee Leduc has family issues. Her father, a flic (cop) turned private eye died in an explosion several years back but it is her mom she needs to obtain closure from. Her mother decided to leave an 8 year old Aimee and her dad in the 1970's to become a radical revolutionary and Aimee has suffered ever since not knowing what has become of her. While working at her Paris office, Aimee is stunned when a mulatto from Haiti arrives claiming to be her half sister by her father. She has no real proof but Aimee longs so much for family, that she really wants for her to be her sister. The woman- Mireille Leduc- disappears but leaves an address at a cafe. Against the advice of her business partner Rene, a dwarf who is in love with Aimee, Aimee goes to the address and comes close to being blamed for the dead man she finds there, a Haitian who died in a ritual attack. This book is full of of the familiar- her godfather Morbier, a flic, telling her to stop using her brain and get married and have babies, Rene frustrated by her lack of work towards building their company, Aimee using pretty much anyone she knows in any position to do so, looking for the missing Mireille, going underground into the old Roman baths, getting beaten up, shot, and drugged, and a cast of colorful characters involved in Haiti and its crooked government and poverty programs. Of course, Aimee sleeps with a guy she just met who she thinks might be a killer and rides another man in his own car until he tries to pick her pocket. Oh, and don't forget the nuns and the murdered scientist who is a pig scientist. You really can't go wrong with this series! I am loving it. This is the 9th book in the series and the 9th I have read. On to number 10! less

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