I couldn't finish this book because it made me mad. I felt manipulated throughout up to the point I quit. I can accept a suspension of belief but the lead character was in the catacombs (complete darkness, right?) with a headlamp and a candle. Ten feet away from her a match is lit and she can make out two men in blue uniforms with silver shields. Quickly she turns off her headlamp and blows out the candle since they hadn't seen her yet (?!) ( )

Aimee Leduc is not your typical detective. Young, hip, and ever so chic in her flea-market designer clothes, Tintin watch and black patent leather heels, Aimee rushes head long into trouble when an illegal Haitian immigrant, named Mireille, shows up on her doorstep claiming to be her sister.

With little concern for her computer security business, or her partner Renee Friant's plans to land a huge computer security contract, Aimee becomes deeply enmeshed in a deadly mystery when Mireille disappears as suddenly as she has arrived.

Determined to find out if Mireille is really her sister, or just another con artist, Aimee is pushed into a tangled web involving a dead body, Haitian politics, an international financial scandal, an academic research rivalry, and a tainted water supply, with just a little bit of voodoo thrown in for good measure.

The character of Aimee Leduc has no concept of self-preservation and her detecting skills are naive- accuse the suspect and see how they react. This headlong rush into situations would be a little more believable in a younger character and though the story is action packed it can be a little overwhelming with all the plots and subplots. The reader is drawn in however by the detailed atmosphere Cara Black evokes with the descriptions of the bohemian Latin Quarter. A good read but you might want to start with an earlier book in this series. ( )

Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black is a murder mystery featuring private detective Aimee Leduc. The ninth in a series and my first. Aimee is minding her own business in her office in the Latin Quarter of Paris when a Haitian woman shows up claiming to be Aimee's sister. The woman bugs out though and so Aimee spends the rest of the book looking for her while investigating three murders involving a mysterious water company in Haiti.

The book is set in Paris and there all sorts of scenes in obscure little bars and bistros with lots of cigarette smoke, expresso, wine, and cognac. There are all sorts of colorful characters and many twists and turns in the plot. ( )

Aimee may have found a half-sister, but will she lose her to a tasngled web of deceit surrounding Haiti's foreign aid? Black brings to life many places I've visted. ( )

A thriller that that des more; takes you on a descriptive tour of the Latin Quarter and the Sorbonne as well as imparting the recent history of Haiti/Papa Doc and the country's relationship to the World Bank ( )