Murder in Passy (Cara Black)

Can't believe I'm already reviewing the next installment in the Aimee Leduc series! But yes, I made sure I put myself on the waiting list at the library as soon as they uploaded the record for this book. The action in this story takes place about a month or two after the end of the last book, Murder in the Palais Royal (my very first book review here!).

This time around Aimee becomes involved in a murder mystery that hits almost as close to home as the murder of her fiance, Yves (Murder in the Rue de Paradis). Morbier, her godfather, asks her to check up on his girlfriend, Xavierre. Turns out Xavierre had some involvement with ETA, the Basque terrorist group that operates in Spain and France. This involvement costs Xavierre her life and Morbier comes out as the main suspect. Alas, things aren't complicated enough in this scenario for Black's pleasure. Nope, we have to have Morbier involved in an investigation into corruption inside the police department itself. This makes his situation even more precarious.

And Aimee's possible new man, Melac, the police detective that we first meet in Palais Royal shows up again. He's not Aimee's typical bad boy, but he's no shrinking violet. Considering that she has slept with a murderer before, it's not out of the question that Melac might be involved with the corrupt flics Morbier is investigating.

All of the telltale features of the series appears. Aimee steps on dog poop wearing Louboutin heels, she runs around wearing designer clothes and complains about having gained a kilo. (That's about 1.6 pounds, by the way.) Her partner, Rene, doesn't show up as much in this book as in previous ones. I'm hoping that we get to see more about what's going on in his personal life. He seems to have met someone and I do hope that works out. You can't help but want Rene to find some happiness.

So another good story from Ms. Black. I hope she doesn't kill Melac off or worse. It can come in handy for Aimee to have a flic on her side.

Next up: The Distant Hours, by Kate Morton. I've been trying to fit this one into my schedule for a while. I really enjoyed Morton's first two books, The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden. Hope she can keep up the good work!

A Red Herring Without Mustard (Alan Bradley)

Alan Bradley has brought readers his third Flavia de Luce mystery. Flavia, a very brilliant scientist even if she is only eleven years old, seems to have a special ability of finding trouble--as in, finding dead bodies and such.

This time around, Flavia has to find out who attacked a Gypsy fortune teller that she led to a section of her family's property to settle for a little while. Of course, on the heels of that attack, Flavia finds the body of the town bully hanging from the trident of the sculpture of Poseidon in at Buckshaw (the de Luce family home).

Flavia also has to still deal with her two older sisters picking on her--all three of them are prodigies in their own way. Their mother's death continues to play a big part in the family's dynamics, as is to be expected. This book goes a little deeper into Flavia's feelings about growing up without her mother. Economic problems have come to the fore as well.

In this book, Bradley also goes a little deeper into Flavia's feelings of loneliness. She even acknowledges that she may want to make friends. It's great that Bradley has made sure to keep Flavia evolving, even though the action in this book happens relatively close to the action from the previous book. Like most brilliant people, Flavia finds herself alone more often than not. Maybe Bradley will give her a sidekick other than her trusty bike, Gladys?

Next up: Murder in Passy, by Cara Black

Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris (Graham Robb)

I've been to Paris once for a whopping three days. Can I just say that those three days were some of the most awesome of my life. And no, I didn't spend my time seeing the "real" Paris. Screw that. I was on vacation.

We stayed right in the Marais, 4th arrondissement just so you know. That's right, right in the center of Paris. If you walked down the block and looked straight down the street you could see Ile St. Louis and about a 20 minute walk to Ile de la Cite.

So, yes, I spent my time being an obnoxious tourist. But, I've read a lot about Paris and I've continued to read up on one of the most fascinating cities in the world. Graham Robb tells the story of this wonderful city through short stories--real stories. And, as if I needed any more convincing, Robb has managed to make me fall in love even more with the history of Paris. He starts with the story of the attempted escape of the royal family from the city after the start of the revolution.

My favorite story was the one based on the real story on which Alexander Dumas based The Count of Monte Cristo. Apparently, a police officer that worked in the archives found the notes on this bizarre case. Of course, another writer came along and embellished the story almost beyond recognition. Still, even if the most stripped down version of this story is true--holy crap! Seriously. Holy crap! Supposedly, this cobbler was set up right before his wedding by his friends as a joke. They denounced him as a possible spy. Back then, that wasn't something you played around with. Only one of the four stayed out of the prank, but he also didn't warn the cobbler. I don't want to give to much away, so I won't give out too many details. But let me tell you, this guy went all in to get back at these guys.

Paris of the olden days had nothing to do with the image portrayed in Sabrina. It still doesn't. I wish I could go back to see it. It's so easy to forget that Paris has an incredibly dark side. This book brings out the best and worst of Paris. (Vidocq anyone?) This is totally one of the more enjoyable histories of Paris out there.

Next up: A Red Herring Without Mustard, by Alan Bradley