Cara Black

Fast-paced thriller that links to past dark days in Parisian history.

A confirmed Aimee Leduc fan, this stunning mystery casts its net around the life of Aimee Leduc and draws her (and me) ever more tightly into the centre of a dark web.
It starts when an elderly gentleman, with the look of a survivor searching for lost ones, presents himself at Aimee's office. He utters these words, 'I knew your father, an honourable man. He told me to come to you if I needed help.'
Aimee doesn't take show more investigative detective work anymore, she deals in corporate security. This seems like a simply delivery, and she needs the money.
Nothing is ever as it seems with Aimee. She finds herself drawn into the hunt for a killer with Nazi ties through circumstances that open her own wounds, haunted as she is by nightmares of her father's death.
This time the past crawls out to confront the future as Aimee finds herself investigating the death of an old Jewish woman who'd been barely a teenager when her parents had been taken by the Gestapo, turned in by a collaborator. Lili Stein had escaped deportation to the camps when Marais had been raided during the Nazi occupation. Now that woman has been brutally murdered and bodies start to pile up, as investigations are mysteriously halted or referred to other branches of the French police and security.
When the final puzzle is brought together it is chilling. The past overshadows the present, lives are turned upside down and old wounds opened and closed. Shocking events mirror each other. Why had Lili boarded up a window? Who fears exposure? Aimee is drawn into the heart of a neo-Nazi organization, dangerous and deluded, in her search for answers.
Aimee finds herself in a fight for her very life, as always impeccably dressed in her designer wear. And this time it saves her life when scrabbling over rooftops pursued by an unknown assassin, 'she had to say one thing for designer wear, it held up under tough conditions.'
(priceless!).
This was a second read for me. It grabbed me just as much now as the first read did.

A NetGalley ARC show less

Murder in the Marais is the first Aimee Leduc mystery by Cara Black. It’s filled with the scares of modern day terrorism, the horrors of history, and the sights, smells and sounds of a Paris suburb, specifically of the Marais. There, Jewish families were once betrayed, children starved, and Nazis strode. But now, new white supremacists carry a half-blind torch for the past, and an old woman dies a gruesome death with her secrets undisclosed.

Aimee Leduc is a fascinating character in her own show more right, with her mother’s disappearance and her father’s death offering equal depth to her skills. A wealth of disguises, smooth physical prowess, a talent for asking the right, or seriously wrong questions, and enviable computer skills, all help her with the case. Meanwhile her partner Rene surely hides many mysteries of his own.

Together, the intrepid duo navigate taxes owed, dangerous allies, awkward politics, and unexpected deaths. Bullets pepper the Paris streets. The European Union advances its cause. And history tries to repeat itself. It’s heady stuff, convincingly told, with detailed facts nicely hidden in evocative description, and disparate viewpoints that gradually gel into complex threads of revelation. And it’s great fun. I’m eager to read more.

Disclosure: It was a Christmas present and I offer my honest review. show less

According to author Cara Black, Three Hours in Paris stemmed from a footnote in history. In June of 1940, Hitler came to newly occupied Paris for three hours. Only three hours and then left, with no victory parade or fanfare of any kind. Black says she knew there was more to this and the fact Goebbels, his propaganda minister, and pioneer of faux news, edited the newsreel of Hitler's visit! And from this little bit of hidden history she has reimagined events and crafted a masterful show more thriller.

Life doesn’t have much meaning for American Kate Rees since she lost her husband and infant daughter in a Luftwaffe bombing, so when she is recruited by British intelligence to put her markswoman skills to use and parachute into Paris and assassinate Hitler she sees her chance for revenge. Even if she is killed or captured, by killing the Führer she will have achieved a small victory in honor of her dead family. She is given a crash course in spy craft and put on the plane. And from that point the story takes off and never slows down until the very last page.

The description of the book barely scratches the surface. There is so much more beneath.
Fate, happenstance, (bad) luck, coincidence, whatever it is, nothing is as it seems or goes as expected. This book is deliciously complicated and convoluted. It’s as if they are all making connections but the connections are slightly off, and nobody realizes it. Very exciting, tense, short, short chapters work perfectly because about the time your stress level is at its breaking point the scene or POV shifts. You get a little breather, but then more suspense. About halfway through and I still had no idea at all how this might end. It’s one of those books where you really want to take a peek at the end because you can’t stand it, but you won’t do it because you are enjoying this terrifying ride too much. There is such a ripple effect of tragedy and ruination to all those Kate innocently touches as she blunders around trying to get back to England, and so many aspects of her mission, and the missions of others, that I just did not see coming.

The writing is masterful, characters captivating, and the plot moves along at breakneck pace. Scenes are brought vividly to life. You can feel the heat, smell the cigarette smoke, hear the water in the fountains. Thanks to Penguin Random House for providing an advance copy of Three Hours in Paris. All opinions are my own. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. show less

In June of 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Hitler spent a total of three hours in the city-- abruptly leaving, never to return. To this day, no one knows why. When a fascinating little nugget of information like this falls into the lap of a talented writer like Cara Black, it immediately becomes the catalyst for a high-octane historical thriller.

Kate Rees is a fascinating character, and I loved following her through the streets of Paris as she tried to get out alive. With no formal show more training in spycraft, she only had her quick wits, her instincts, and the bits and pieces of information she gleaned from the man who recruited her for the mission to aid in her survival. She is in a situation where she can trust absolutely no one, and this adds to the fast pace and suspense of Three Hours in Paris-- especially as she's being followed by a straight-arrow Munich cop named Gunter Hoffman. Kate may have her own obstacles to overcome, but so does Hoffman in the form of layer upon layer of Hitler's flunkies. The point of view switches from Kate to Hoffman in a riveting game of cat and mouse.

As I read, I also found myself becoming angrier and angrier. Why? Because this book reminded me of all the nameless, faceless, utterly dedicated and brave men and women who have been deliberately sacrificed by governments around the world in the name of Victory. I have always had a difficult time believing that any human being is a "throwaway." So, yes, Three Hours in Paris did rouse some ire in me, but first and foremost, it is a thrilling tale of survival.

From the map of Paris on the endpieces of the book to the very last page, I found myself rooting for Kate Rees. I think you will, too. I certainly hope Cara Black has more thrillers like Three Hours in Paris up her sleeve! show less