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Murder in Pigalle

This book counts for the following Reading Challenges:

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

Last year, I was fortunate to discover Cara Black and her Aimée (sorry, being French, it really bothers me to skip these accents that tell you how to pronounce a word) Leduc Series. Thanks to the awesome Audiobook Jukebox, I received Murder in Pigalle.

Aimée is a very interesting character, both private detective and quite feminine, and she knows Paris so very well. In this book, Aimée is pregnant. There are quite a few details about her situation, her personal life, the father of her child, and her associate René.

Each book of the series takes you to a different neighborhood. This time, the plot takes place in Summer 1998 in the all too famous red Pigalle, famous for its brothels. For once, Aimée was ready to slow down, but she discovers a serial rapist is around. There’s no way she cannot get involved personally and try to solve the issue when a very good friend of hers, Zazie, 13, disappears when she was trying to do some investigation herself.

I liked the usual dynamic Aimée vs. the French police, notorious for doing things too slow and not too well. And as always with Cara Black, things get way more complex than Aimée and you thought!,

Thoughts on the audio production:
The narrator Meredith Mitchell was incredible. She was very good at giving variations to her voice and tone for the different characters, for the good and the bad, the elderly and the teens. There was plenty of emotions to convey, for instance for the mothers of girls raped or kidnapped, and she gave the great amount, very real without getting over the top.
I will have hard time now imagining Aimée with a different voice, too bad the other books in a series are read by other narrators.

VERDICT: Murder in Pigalle is a great way of approaching this famous Parisian neighborhood from the inside, from the safety of your armchair. The mystery will grab you right away and you will want to accompany Aimée in every dark alley to figure out what’s really at stake here. Highly recommended for all mystery lovers.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Cara Black frequents a Paris little known outside the beaten tourist track. A Paris she discovers on research trips and interviews with French police, private detectives and café owners. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, a bookseller, and their teenage son. She is a San Francisco Library Laureate and a member of the Paris Sociéte Historique in the Marais. Her nationally bestselling and award nominated Aimée Leduc Investigation series has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Hebrew. She’s included in the GREAT WOMEN MYSTERY WRITERS by Elizabeth Lindsay 2nd edition published in the UK. Her first three novels in the series MURDER IN THE MARAIS, MURDER IN BELLEVILLE AN MURDER IN THE SENTIER – nominated for an Anthony Award as Best Novel – were published in the UK in 2008 and MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER came out in the UK in 2010. Several of her books have been chosen as BookSense Picks and INDIE NEXT choice by the Amerian Association of Independent Bookstores. The Washington Post listed MURDER IN THE RUE DE PARADIS in the Best Fiction Choices of 2008. MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER is a finalist for Best Novel Award from the NCIBA Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.

Visit her fun website!

HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK YET?
Which one is your favorite Parisian neighborhood? Why?
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS  IN A COMMENT PLEASE

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