Murder in Saint Germain

April 24, 2017
Set in the sizzling summer of 1999, Black’s twisty 17th Aimée Leduc investigation (after 2016’s Murder on the Quai) finds the Parisian PI doing a job for the École des Beaux-Arts, the kind of computer security work that pays the bills for her agency, Leduc Detective. Then old acquaintance and counterterrorism operative Suzanne Lesage asks Aimée to find a Serbian warlord, who was presumed dead but who, Suzanne insists, is alive and following her. This case presents the kind of danger that Aimée hoped she left behind with the birth of her daughter, Chloé, eight months before, but she agrees to help. Meanwhile, she’s wracked with guilt after a shooter seriously wounds her godfather, Morbier, and she doesn’t completely trust Chloé’s biological father, Malec, who has turned up, seeking to spend time with the baby. Black juggles numerous plot lines with panache and brings to life the charm and grit of Paris. A few nods to old-fashioned capers (Aimée keeps a whole wardrobe of disguises) enhance a mystery as sharp as Aimée’s designer stiletto heels. Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown.

May 1, 2017
A job at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and a search for a Serbian lowlife combine to lead Aimee Leduc (Murder on the Quai, 2016, etc.) through the upscale part of Paris' Left Bank.With Leduc Detectives in a temporary office in the former 17th-century cloister now housing the famed art school, it seems natural enough for directrice Sybille to hire Aimee to investigate a case involving one of its professors even though Jules Dechard won't tell Aimee what the case is about. All he'll divulge is that he wants a list of all email sent to and from a particular address. Since her partner, Rene Friant, is a computer whiz, email snooping is child's play for Aimee. So she has enough time to also help her old friend Suzanne Lesage, a former member of an elite counterterrorism squad. Suzanne's convinced she's seen Mirko Vladi?, a sadistic murderer blown up in Serbia, alive and well in Paris. The tabac where Suzanne spotted Mirko is right behind the Saint-Sulpice Metro stop, so Aimee can check it out easily on her way from the office. But none of the Balkan emigres who frequent the shop has seen Mirko. A lull in both her cases doesn't mean a respite for Aimee, though. Like a bad centime, Melac, the father of her baby, is back, and Aimee can't decide whether all the free babyproofing in the world is worth the heartache Chloe's sexy, married dad may bring. Black's detective is hitting her post-pregnancy stride, bringing up bebe while battling the bad guys with the best of them.

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May 1, 2017
It will come as no surprise to readers of Black's Aimee Leduc series to learn that the Parisian PI is in way over her head this time. Her straightforward computer-security job at an art school just got complicated by the blackmailing of one of the professors; Aimee's friend Suzanne, of the Brigade Criminelle, has spotted a Serbian war criminal who was supposed to be dead and now she needs Aimee's help to track him down. And that's just the work stuff. There's also the matter of Beloit, Aimee's new boyfriend/babysitter, and the reappearance of her old beau, also the father of Aimee's child, Chloe. And let's not forget Aimee's godfather, Morbier, in the hospital and near death, asking to speak with his estranged goddaugher. Oh, and Aimee's pink scooter has been behaving poorly, making it all the harder to crash around town at the usual breakneck pace. It's a familiar setup, of course, but this is one series whose primary appeal is its absolute predictability. Keep crashing, Aimee, just like you always have. The view of Paris from the back of your scooter couldn't be better.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 1, 2017
Corby's seventh in the Athenian Mystery series puts his sixth-century-BCE sleuthing duo of Nicolaos and Diotima on an island hedged round with constraints. The island is Delos, the sacred birthplace of the twins Apollo and Artemis. Dying and giving birth on Delos are illegal. So, when the high priestess of Athens selects the pregnant priestess Diotima to accompany Athens' annual gifts to the gods of Delos, it's problematic. And when Diotima's husband, Nicolaos (investigator for the statesman Pericles), finds the dead body of a high priest on the island, the stress level skyrockets. It doesn't help that the priest has a sacrificial dagger sticking out of his chest. The word Nemesis, the name of the goddess devoted to revenge, is scrawled in blood on the wall next to the victim. Is this revenge completed or just getting started? The murder may or may not be connected to the fact that Pericles has led an Athenian fleet to convey the treasure of Delos back to Athens. However, the people of Delos do connect Nicolaos to the crime, since he found the body. Diotima moves to first-sleuth position this time in a refreshingly original touch. There's so much to admire here: Corby seamlessly works in Greek myths and history; the details of everyday life, like rituals, coins, and food, are part of the fabric of the mystery; and Nicolaos and Diotima's witty, sexy relationship seems like a BCE version of Nick and Nora Charles. Another outstanding entry in a consistently excellent series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2017

Next in the New York Times best-selling series starring Aimee Leduc, this work picks up where the penultimate Murder on the Champ de Mars left off. It's 1999, and Aimee is approached by Brigade Criminelle agent Suzanne Lesage, whose team has been tracking war criminals in fracturing Yugoslavia. Suzanne believes that she's being stalked by a notorious Serbian warlord her team thought they had killed.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017

In her 17th outing, Parisian PI detective Aimee Leduc has two cases: a secretive job for a professor, and a dangerous investigation into the reappearance of a war criminal who should be dead. Could his return be linked to the murders of members of an elite counter-terrorism squad? At the same time, Leduc juggles caring for her baby between jobs. [See Prepub Alert, 1/4/17.]--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.