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Fiction. Mystery. HTML:Parisian P.I. Aim�e Leduc is head-over-heels when a former boyfriend, an investigative journalist, reappears and proposes�but his professional past has caught up with him, and now Aim�e must figure out who would want him dead Aim�e Leduc seems to be having a streak of good luck. First, she secures a lucrative computer security contract for her Paris detective agency. Then her ex-boyfriend Yves, the gorgeous bad-boy investigative journalist, reappears in her life. He insists he�s back in Paris indefinitely�and wants to make the ultimate commitment. He proposes to her that very night, and Aim�e can�t help but say yes. When she wakes up in the morning, though, Yves is gone without even leaving a note. Aim�e is irate until she learns the awful truth: Yves was murdered early that morning. Heartbroken and convinced the Brigade Criminelle are not following the right leads, Aim�e pursues the mystery behind her fianc�s murder. Yves was killed trying to further a cause he believed in. Even if it means putting her own life on the line, Aim�e won�t let him die in vain.… (more)
User reviews
The main thread of the murder mystery is the murder of Aimee's on-and-off love-- or fling-- Yves Robert. But his murder really becomes an excuse to talk about larger political issues; it's almost as if Black had Yves show up in the first 10 pages only in order to get killed so that she could talk about the sociopolitical issues that interested her more. Yves's death ends up getting sidelined a lot, which detracts from the overall "murder mystery" feel of the novel. Characters like Rene, Aimee's work partner, also only seem to pop up as plot conviences, again in service of the sociopolitical message of the novel (the whole tangent about their possibly buying new office real estate, for instance: does that serve any purpose but to eventually lead to contact with the assassian?).
Black's mysteries are always fun and light in the sense that they're drenched in Paris culture, unlikely but enjoyable scenarios involving costumes and flea market finds (this one involves a feather boa, honest), and high-speed chases. For pure entertainment value, you can't discount them. This one just seems to lose some of the entertainment value behind overly dense sociopolitical rhetoric (bear in mind that that's socialpolitical rhetoric, circa 1995, as per the novel's time period setting).