MURDER AT LA VILLETTE

A detective’s struggle to raise her daughter in Paris meets an unexpectedly grim obstacle.

Despite the dangers and demands of life as a private investigator, Aimée Leduc has always been attentive to the needs of her 3-year-old daughter, Chloé. Reliable child care and the help of her friends have allowed Aimée to resist the attempts of Chloé’s father, police detective Jérome Melac, to remove the child to his farm in rural Brittany. But now Aimée’s desire to have Melac out of her life for good has succeeded in the worst possible way. His body is found beneath an arched bridge that spans a canal in La Villette, and Aimée is found on the scene with his blood all over her hands. With the help of her godfather, Commissaire Morbier, she’s released from custody, but she knows that her chances of keeping her daughter, as well as her freedom, rest with her ability to find Melac’s killer. It had been a voicemail from Melac that brought Aimée to the scene of his death—"Aimée...I’ve just seen a ghost”—and now she begins searching for whomever, or whatever, he’d been talking about. Like many of her investigations, Aimée’s search leads back to an older crime, this time the serial murders committed by le Balafré, a shadowy figure who terrorized La Villette in the 1980s and ’90s. Her investigation features the requisite host of colorful characters who spill out of the biker bars and tattoo parlors of the 19th arrondissement, a bevy of chic disguises, and a few slick car chases. But as usual, the star of the show is the city Aimée loves.

Vintage Black for fans of women’s empowerment and life in Paris.