Murder in the Palais Royal

January 4, 2010
Before Aimée Leduc can go to New York to meet a previously unknown brother at the start of Black’s solid, if less than suspenseful, 10th mystery to feature the Paris PI (after 2009’s Murder in the Latin Quarter
), dogged Inspector Melac arrests her for the nonfatal shooting of her partner, René Friant. A woman impersonating the stylish PI entered the Leduc Detective office and shot René with a Beretta. Someone, Aimée decides, is trying to frame her. Improbably, Aimée gains her release by pulling strings with her godfather, Commissaire Morbier, so she can investigate on her own. The trail leads her to Cardinal Richelieu’s former Palais Royal, where bistro waitress Clémence Touvier schemes to blackmail the prominent mother of a neo-Nazi arsonist whose accomplices Aimée helped convict. Clémence’s strangulation in the Palais arcades ups the ante. In the end, Aimée must confront dark revelations about her fugitive mother, who may have a part in the sinister plot against her.

February 1, 2010
In Aime Leduc's latest investigation (after "Murder in the Latin Quarter"), the crime is upfront and personalnot only has Aime's partner, Ren Friant, been shot but Aime herself is accused of the crime. In addition, a large amount of money has mysteriously appeared in Leduc Detective's account, prompting official investigation, and a young man Aime helped pack off to jail for anti-immigrant activities demands to see herand then ends up an apparent suicide. "Bien sr", this would not be an Aime Leduc novel without political concerns, and Aime's follow-up of the convicted man's deatheven as she tries to clear her name and figure out who really shot Renleads her straight into the hate-filled terrain of neo-Nazi agitation and "Les Blancs Nationaux". These two investigations link in a surprising waythere's a really ripping endingand make for interestingly different and overlapping tension. And with Aime really on the defensive, she's more appealingly tough yet vulnerable than ever. VERDICT With its multiple strands, this work has a somewhat different feel from other Aime Leduc novels. But never fear, it's still a winner. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 11/1/09.]Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"

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