June, 1998 is not the best time in the world to be five months pregnant: French football fans are in riot mode anticipating the World Cup, the sticky heat is oppressive, and a serial rapist is targeting teenage girls in Paris's Pigalle district. Private investigator Aimée Leduc is trying to focus on her unborn child, but when Zazie the 13-year-old daughter of the proprietor of Aimée's favorite café disappears, everything changes in a heartbeat. The police aren't taking Zazie's disappearance seriously enough, and her parents are asking Aimée for help. She couldn't say no... even if she wanted to.
There's a lot in Murder in Pigalle for a reader to digest, especially Aimée's own reactions to her pregnancy. How is she coping with morning sickness, getting tired easily, and her clothes no longer fitting properly? How are her friends and business associates reacting to the news? This is all important, especially for future books in the series, but front and center is Zazie's disappearance with this serial rapist on the prowl. Aimée knows how important time is in relationship to the young girl's survival, and her sense of urgency swiftly becomes the focus of the reader. As Aimée fights nausea, exhaustion, and an almost overwhelming sense of panic, I, too, became panicked-- and I couldn't read fast enough.
As her investigation progresses, it soon becomes clear that this is not a simple case of one young girl's disappearance. There are more things at stake here, and Aimée must unravel a tangled skein of clues in order to make sense of it all and save Zazie. Of all the books in this series that I've read, Murder in Pigalle is the strongest. I can't wait to see what Cara Black has in store for us next.
Murder in Pigalle by Cara Black
ISBN: 9781616952846
Soho Crime © 2014
Hardcover, 320 pages
Private Investigator, #14 Aimée Leduc mystery
Rating: A
Source: publicist
Cathy - The setting got me already! This is a series I've heard such god things about and *blush* still haven't gotten to yet. Time I did.
ReplyDeleteLet's face it... I don't think there's any way on earth that we're going to be able to read all the series we want to read! Some folks let this freak them out. I think of it as a security blanket: I'm never going to run out of things to read.
DeleteI haven't usually read this series, although I have read one or two books. But this one sounds good and what I need, a fast-moving caper through Paris with Aimee Leduc.
ReplyDeleteSo I will look for this one at the library.
I think I read it at the perfect time, Kathy.
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