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 Aimโยฎe 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 shenanigansโshe'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 Aimโยฎeโuntil Zazie, the fourteen-year-old daughter of the proprietor of Aimโยฎe's favorite cafโยฎ, disappears. The police aren't mobilizing quickly enough, and when Zazie's desperate parents approach Aimโยฎe for help, she knows she couldn't say no even if she wanted to. In the frantic race against time that ensues, Aimโยฎe 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 Aimโยฎe Leduc mystery is a thrilling follow-up to her 2013 New York Times bestseller, Murder below Montparnasse.
Cara Black is the author of the popular Aimรฉe Leduc mystery series. She is a San Francisco Library Laureate and a member of the Paris Sociรฉte Historique in the Marais. Her book Murder in the Sentier was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Novel, and Murder in the Latin Quarter was a finalist for the Best Novel Award from the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.
Meredith Mitchell is an actress who has performed in such films as Mona Lisa Smile and The Reunion, on stage with Shakespeare & Company and the New Repertory Theatre, and on television on Good Morning America. She received her BA in psychology from Emory University and her MFA in acting from Brandeis University.