Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (Aimee Leduc Investigations, No. 7)

Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (Aimee Leduc Investigations, No. 7)

Aimée is faced with a tight deadline on a computer security contract when a telephone call from a stranger leads her to an abandoned infant. She brings the baby to her home and names her Stella. She expects the mother to reclaim the child, but days pass as Aimée tries in vain to discover her identity. Her partner, René, urges her to turn the baby over to the authorities, but for Aimée this is too close to her own abandonment by her mother.   The search brings her among ecological protesters and oil company tycoons, newspapermen and would-be actresses, as demonstrators near her home on the Ile Saint-Louis, in the heart of Paris, march against the pollution of the North Sea only to be dispersed by armed police.   Two murders and an abortive bombing keep Aimée running until, in the sewers beneath the Seine, she finds the woman she has been looking for, only to discover that the man she has just fallen for is a cold-hearted criminal. Aimee Leduc, computer-security analyst and intrepid sleuth, usually needs to wander the arrondisements of Paris to find murder cases in which to involve herself. This time, though, the murder comes to the doorstep of her apartment building on the city's historic Ile Saint-Louis. Not only does Aimee find herself in the middle of a murder investigation, she also finds a baby in her arms--left on that same doorstep by an unknown woman. Following the baby's trail leads her to a violent conflict between environmentalists and an oil company. As the bodies accumulate, Aimee must sort out good guys from bad on both sides of the dispute. Meanwhile, the ever-hip investigator must come to terms with the emergence of some shocking maternal instincts. Black again makes the most of her setting, drawing on the juicy history of the Ile Saint-Louis--a crucial scene takes place on the Rue de la Femme- sans-tete (road of the headless woman)--but this time the plot lacks a bit of the sizzle that sparked previous episodes. Still, this series remains must reading for fans of the jauntier side of European crime fiction. Bill Ott Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Praise for the Aimée Leduc series:   “One of the best heroines in crime fiction.”—Lee Child   “Haunting.”— The New York Times Book Review “The Parisienne Kinsey Millhone.”— Los Angeles Times   “One of the best new writers in the field today.”— Publishers Weekly , Starred Review Cara Black is the author of nine books in the Aimee Leduc series. She frequently visits Paris but lives in San Francisco with her husband and son. New Mint Condition Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon Guaranteed packaging No quibbles returns