Murder in Belleville (Aimee Leduc Investigations, No. 2) Paperback – April 1, 2002

It’s an Aimee Leduc novel written by the incredibly talented Cara Black—what more could you ask for? Every page is like being immersed in the French culture.

This is about my fourth Cara Black/Aimee Leduc novel. Thusfar, there has been a great deal of consistency in terms of quality and a lot of continuity in a low key, not very repetitious, way. Aimee's computer forensics private security agency is interesting to read about, and I admire Black's bringing in social and political themes and issues in each novel.Aimee and her sidekick are both troubled characters, but with a real sense of humor about themselves. While they are not as "dark" or "heavy" as Lisbeth Salander and the Dragon Tattoo series, I prefer Aimee, and not just because of the different Parisian settings, but because of her feisty personality, eccentric and cheap style sense, along with her occasional bravado and craziness, always returning to the fact that she is a girl on her own, having to be resourceful and make her own living.She's a bit like a Parisienne Kinsey Milhone and V.I. Washawski rolled into one, just younger, less earnest, and more willing to take chances perhaps. One of my all-time favorite series, this one!

Not the most fascinating mystery I've read, but FAR from the worst. If you like Paris, it is fun from that point of view, as it is set there and has the characters travelling around the city. You get some interesting insight into the situations of various immigrants in France, especially Algerians. The detective is a likable, bold and clever young lady and she has a super-brainy side-kick /computer whiz who is a little person. An oddly appealing aspect of the book is the matter-of-fact mentions of his ordinary behaviors. Where you might read a description of a guy who 'threw himself down into his desk chair', for example, this guy will 'climb up into his seat at the computer'. It doesn't sound important, but it makes you picture accurately what is going on. There are many things to like about this book and I may seek out others from the same author. I believe I might have given it 4 stars if I'd been able to read it through without significant interruptions from an eye problem. In fairness, that might have allowed me to feel the suspense building as was intended.

I don’t usually read near contemporary mysteries, but this series has grabbed my interest. Some of the issues happening in French society in the 90s seems to mirror ours today. Both this mystery and Black’s first in the series, Murder in the Marais, are great reads.

I loved Murder in the Marais. That said, while I enjoyed Cara Black's new, second book featuring Aimee Leduc, I didn't love it. Certainly, it rolls along at a good clip. But my primary problem, aside from a too-large cast of characters, was a fair absence of emotion on Aimee's part about the things that happen to some of the characters. Aimee's feelings in this tale seem to be focused primarily on herself, and, as a result, there's an absence of impact on the reader when terrible things happen. There are some fine moments, particularly one scene involving a cellphone conversation with the four-year-old daughter of Aimee's "employer." But this is a story about serious events and the lack of the heroine's feelings for the people involved in these events does a disservice to the overall narrative.It is none the less an entertaining, if somewhat difficult, book and I would recommend that newcomers to Black's work read Murder In the Marais first. She manages to set the Paris scene wonderfully well; its smells, its sights, the feel of the place. And for that alone I give the author high marks.

I’m so happy to have discovered this author. If you liked the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, you should enjoy Aimee Leduc and her world.

I have read a couple of other books in this series, not great but good . All taking place in parts of Paris. This one was a muddle of metro stops and neighborhoods that only a Parisian would be familiar with , leaving out a lot of other readers! The mystery involved French politics and history with immigrants . This was also confusing for readers in the U.S. not really familiar with this issue, In France.

I wanted to like Cara Black's books. I really did. I love Paris, I love mysteries, and these sounded perfect. I made a big mistake and bought four of her books in one swoop, basing my purchase on reviews. I read the first while in Paris, and in a good enough mood. Now I'm back home, reading the second, and thinking "Uh oh..." I do love revisiting the city of my dreams, but not with cliched gumshoe Aimee or her creator. First of all, the writing is disjointed and confusing. She chops up events randomly, introduces too many extraneous characters without giving them any buildup or grounding in the story (so you end up thinking "who the hell cares about this person. In fact, who is this person?"). Second, she annoyingly gives many characters "real life" names. I kept thinking "Aren't any of the other characters at any point going to say 'Her name is Eugenie Grandet, like the Balzac character?" or "Martine Sitbon, like the designer?"...but they never do. Stop it, Ms. Black! There are many good fictitious names to chose from and as a writer you should be creative enough to pluck some from thin air, and not the pages of the classics or fashion magazines. I might read the next installment, because a) I purchased the dang thing and b) hope springs eternal but if I start seeing any more second-rate Philip Marlowe dialog and nonsensical situations, I'm putting them right back out on Amazon.

Eine Freundin von Aimée Leduc meldet sich telefonisch mit der Bitte um Hilfe. Die Beiden treffen sich im Pariser Stadtteil Belleville. Es ist dunkel und nasskalt. Vor ihren Augen wird Sylvie mit ihrem Wagen in die Luft gesprengt. Dabei werden auch Aimée und Anaïs verletzt und irgendjemand will seine Tat vollenden. Nur mit Mühe können die beiden Frauen fliehen. Anaïs, die Frau des Innenministers, ist kurz darauf nicht mehr zu erreichen. Zur gleichen Zeit versucht eine Gruppe Algerier, die illegal nach Frankreich kamen, eine Aufenthaltsgenehmigung zu erstreiten. Sie sind in Hungerstreik getreten und haben sich in eine Kirche geflüchtet.Der zweite Fall um die Privatdetektivin Aimée Leduc spielt im April 1994 in Paris. Illegale Einwanderer aus Algerien kämpfen um ihre Rechte. Mit den strengen Gesetzen geht der Staat dagegen an. In dieser Gemengelage geraten Anaïs und Sylvie zwischen die Fronten. Laut Anaïs war Sylive die Geliebte ihres Mannes. Doch je länger Aimée nach der Wahrheit sucht, desto mehr wird ihr klar, dass das nicht alles war. Wieso wurde Sylvie getötet? War sie die eigentliche Zielperson? Mit wem hatte sie Kontakt? Und was sind die eigentlichen Ziele der Hungerstreikenden? Wollen sie tatsächlich nur das Aufenthaltsrecht oder haben sie Beziehungen zu Terroristen?Obwohl die Handlung in den 1990ern angesiedelt ist, wirkt die Handlung doch erschreckend aktuell. Terroristen, Anschläge, dunkle Machenschaften von den vermeintlich Mächtigen. Die Welt war damals nicht besser. Die Menschen fügen sich gegenseitig Schaden zu, um ihre eigenen Ziele zu erreichen. Spannend umgesetzt ist Leducs Suche nach der Wahrheit. Auf dem Weg erfährt man einiges über die politische Lage im Frankreich der 1990er. Schon damals war die Situation keine einfache. Was wäre ein guter Umgang mit Menschen aus einem Land, das lange eine Kolonie war, doch zum Zeitpunkt der Handlung schon über dreißig Jahre Unabhängigkeit genießt. Dieser intelligente Kriminalroman fesselt und ist auch heute noch von Aktualität.Bei der Autorin handelt es sich um eine amerikanische Schriftstellerin, deren Krimis in unterschiedlichen Pariser Arrondissements angesiedelt sind.

Some people find her stories too complicated but I like their complexity and their social and political relevance. I'm always learning a lot about french history and culture. Very good!

Pour le lire

Cara Black- Murder In BellevilleBook 2 of the Aimee Leduc Investigations79th book read in 2020I purchased this book used the same time as Cara Black-Murder in the Marais to have the first two books of this series, Saddly some of the other books are available used but way above what I would pay foir a used book, so I will buy other books in this series jumping around what is available at a price I feel is fair,This is an older book published in 2003.Parisian P.I. Aimée Leduc finds herself involved with a secretive North African radical group the French government would rather she didn’t investigate When Anaїs de Froissart calls private investigator Aimée begging for help, Aimée assumes her best friend's sister wants to hire her to do surveillance on her philandering husband again. Aimée's too busy right now to indulge her. But Anaїs, a politician's wife with an unhappy marriage and a young daughter, insists Aimée must come, that she is in trouble and scared. Aimée tracks Anaїs down just in time to see a car bomb explode, injuring Anaїs and killing the woman she was with. Aimée, who saw her father die in a car bomb five years earlier, is shaken by the attack, but manages to escort Anaїs to safety. But Anaїs can't explain what Aimée just witnessed. The dead woman, Anaїs says, is Sylvie Coudray, her cheating husband's long-time mistress, but she has no idea who wanted her dead, and Anaїs officially hires Aimée to investigate. As she digs into Sylvie Coudray's murky past, Aimée finds that the dead woman may not be who Anaїs thought she was. Her Belleville neighborhood, full of North African immigrants, may be hiding clues to who Sylvie really was. As a prominent Algerian rights activist stages a hunger protest against new immigration laws, Aimée begins to wonder whether Sylvie's death was an act of terrorism, and who else may be at risk. To make matters worse, Yves, Aimée's ex-boyfriend, a journalist who seems to appear in and disappear from Aimée's life without any regard for her feelings, is back in town. Just the kind of distraction she doesn't need right nowI would give this book 4*

It took a while for the pace of the book to increase and then it ended in a whimper. Aimee is at her best but storyline not as much. Will look forward to next one.