What do You think about Murder In Montmartre (2007)?
I read two of Cara Black's Aimee Leduc series some years ago, and although I don't have a sharp memory of either one, my general feeling is that they were "pretty good" stories with great atmosphere. I'm sorry I can't say the same about this one. Too many characters, jumbled all together without clear characterization and those great "refresher" details that allow the reader ro remember them the next time they appear. The plot was far-fetched and improbable, and not all that compelling. I never really came to care about any aspect of the story or any of the characters. Also, Leduc was not convincing as someone who could actually do all the physical acrobatics she was put through. Then came the ending - a very unsatisfactory resolution that left me pleased only to be done with the book.Someone recently complained that I never do negative reviews (except for WOLF HALL). I hope I'm not over-reacting to that criticism, but I really didn't think much of this book.
—Lewis Weinstein
Totally into this mystery series - Love the strong main character; a WOMAN private detective named Aimee Leduc. I find all of the books interesting and relatively fast-paced reads, but often they gte a bit muddled in the unraveling of the mystery and the dialogues between characters also is not always clear. You can't always tell who is the speaker - but nontheless, I still love the fact that it takes place in Paris and each book takes place in a different neighborhood of the city. Cara Black does a great job of setting the scene and giving a flavor for the people of the arrondissement. This book was interesting b/c it gave more insight to the ongoing mystery of Aimee's father's death, and introduces a new love interest for Aimee - but loves some steam at the end regarding the complicated scheme to smuggle arms to the Corsican Seperatists in Paris. I will continue to read the series though as I've gotten this far along, might as well keep going!
—Breen
Black has been incredibly clever in how she doles out the details of Aimee's father's violent death in the course of a surveillance-gone-horribly-wrong, she's building nicely to a better understanding of the Aimee-Rene dynamic, and has given us a delightfully stubborn (who can't relate to that?), clever and resourceful protagonist. In this outing, much of which occurs in/around Montmartre as the book's name implies, Aimee must investigate circumstances in which she became unwittingly involved so as to clear a childhood friend who is charged with the rooftop murder of her possibly-corrupt police partner. So it's the usual behind-the-scenes machinations of the different arms of the French government, the Byzantine dysfunction of the assorted arms of the French police, a disturbing surveillance program referred to as Big Ears, loads of Montmartre history and current demographics (including the music scene), and little bits of Corsican culture. All told, a tight storyline with marvelous sense of place. Onward to Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis!--which is esp. promising as that hits very close to home for Aimee given that it's where her apartment is located.
—Julie H.
