Cara Black – författare

June, 1998. Paris'' sticky summer heat is even more oppressive than usual as rowdy French football fans riot in anticipation of the World Cup. Private investigator Aim├®e Leduc has been trying to slow down her hectic lifestyle, take on only computer security assignments, and maybe try to learn how to cook (quelle catastrophe!). She''s vowed not to let herself get involved in any more dangerous shenanigans—she''s five months pregnant and has the baby''s well-being to think about now, too.

But all of her best intentions to live the quiet life fall away when disaster strikes close to home. A serial rapist has been terrorizing Paris'' Pigalle neighborhood, following teenage girls home from junior high school and attacking them in their own houses. It is sad and frightening but has nothing to do with Aim├®e—until Zazie, the fourteen-year-old daughter of the proprietor of Aim├®e''s favorite caf├®, disappears. The police aren''t mobilizing quickly enough, and when Zazie''s desperate parents approach Aim├®e for help, she knows she couldn''t say no even if she wanted to. In the frantic race against time that ensues, Aim├®e discovers a terrifying secret neighborhood history that will leave lives in the whole quartier upended.

Inspired by a true crime story of a serial killer who wreaked havoc on Paris in the summer of 1998, Cara Black''s fourteenth Aim├®e Leduc mystery is a thrilling follow-up to her 2013 New York Times bestseller, Murder below Montparnasse.

Aim├®e Leduc is happy that her long-time business partner Ren├® has found a girlfriend. Really, she is. It''s not her fault if she can''t suppress her doubts about the relationship; Ren├® is moving way too fast, and Aim├®e''s instincts tell her Meizi, this supposed love of Ren├®''s life, isn''t trustworthy. And her misgivings may not be far off the mark. Meizi disappears during a Chinatown dinner to take a phone call and never comes back to the restaurant. Minutes later, the body of a young man, a science prodigy and volunteer at the nearby Mus├®e, is found shrink-wrapped in an alley—with Meizi''s photo in his wallet.

Aim├®e does not like this scenario one bit, but she can''t figure out how the murder is connected to Meizi''s disappearance. The dead genius was sitting on a discovery that had France''s secret service keeping tabs on him. Now they''re keeping tabs on Aim├®e.

A missing young woman, an illegal immigrant raid in progress, botched affairs of the heart, dirty policemen, the French secret service, cutting-edge science secrets, and a murderer on the loose—what has she gotten herself into? And can she get herself—and her friends—back out of it all alive?

A long-lost Modigliani portrait, a grieving brother''s blood vendetta, a Soviet secret that''s been buried for eighty years—Parisian private investigator Aim├®e Leduc''s current case is her most exciting one yet.

When Aim├®e''s long-term partner and best friend Rene leaves their detective agency for a new job in Silicon Valley, Aim├®e knows she can handle the extra workload. At least, that what she tells herself … repeatedly.

But all bets are off when Yuri Volodya, a mysterious old Russian man, hires Aim├®e to protect a painting. By the time she gets to his Montparnasse atelier, the precious painting has already been stolen, leaving Aim├®e smelling a rat. The next day, Yuri is found tortured to death in his kitchen. To top it all off, it looks like Aim├®e isn''t the only one looking for the painting. Some very dangerous people are threatening her and her coworkers, and witnesses are dropping like flies. Now Aim├®e has to find the painting, stop her attackers, and figure out what her long-missing mother, who is on Interpol''s most wanted list, has to do with all this—fingers crossed she wasn''t Yuri''s murderer, despite clues pointing in that direction.

Obviously, Rene doesn''t need to worry. Aim├®e has things under control.