Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (Aimee Leduc Investigations, No. 7)

Parisian P.I. Aimée Leduc finds herself caring for an abandoned infant while trying to track down the child’s missing motherAimée Leduc is on a tight work deadline when an anonymous call leads her to an abandoned infant in her building's courtyard. Aimée's search for little Stella's mother that will soon have her on the run from a cold-hearted killer and embroiled in a conflict between oil tycoons and environmental protesters.Parisian private investigator Aimée Leduc is working on a tight deadline for a cybersecurity contract when she gets a phone call that disrupts all her progress. The female voice on the other end begs Aimée to go out into her courtyard, insists that her life is in danger, that Aimée must not call the police, then hangs up. Aimée’s project is in jeopardy, and her partner, René, will be furious if she botches this assignment, but she can’t ignore the distress in the mysterious caller’s voice. That doesn’t mean she’s prepared for what she finds in the courtyard, though: a newborn baby, wrapped in a blood-stained beaded jacket. Aimée wants to track down the baby’s mother, but when a young woman’s body washes up in the Seine on the shores of the Ile Saint-Louis, the little island where Aimée herself lives, she realizes the situation is very dangerous. Paris has been rife with bomb threats linked to protesting environmental groups, and with a little investigating Aimée becomes convinced the baby, the body in the Seine, and the protests are somehow linked. Not that Aimée can afford distraction from her paying work right now--Leduc Detective is in bad financial straits. But despite themselves, Aimée and René have both fallen in love with the baby girl, whom Aimee nicknames Stella. Taking care of Stella’s needs—and protecting her from whoever hurt or killed her missing mother—must take priority over their computer security contract with a big publicity firm. Meanwhile, she’s following leads to the infant’s mother that take her to a radical dispossessed Polish prince, a community of homeless people who live in the sewer caves of the Seine, and a sexy documentary film maker. Can Aimée finish her security job, figure out who Stella belongs to, track down the missing mother, and protect herself and her friends from the danger that is circling them, all while juggling a newborn infant?

aimée Investigates Murders While Caring For An Abandoned Infant.

publishers Weekly

at The Start Of Black's Gripping Seventh Mystery To Feature Parisian Computer Expert Aimée Leduc (after 2006's murder In Montmartre), A Distraught, Late-night Anonymous Phone Call Distracts Aimée From Her Deadline And Sends Her To The Courtyard Of Her Ile Saint-louis Building, Where She Finds An Infant Girl. After The Caller Never Shows Up For Her Baby (whom Aimée Decides To Care For), Aimée Wonders If The Woman May Have Become An Yvette, A Jane Doe Dragged From The Seine. She Follows A Tenuous Lead To Discover The Caller's Identity, Bringing Her Samaritan Impulses Into Direct Conflict With Her Business Sense. A Wonderfully Complex Plot Is Lent Immediacy By Environmental Activists Agitating Against A Proposed Oil Agreement Secondary Characters Who Play A Crucial Role In The Intrigue. This Paris Has A Gritty, Edgy Feel, And Black's Prose Evokes The Sound Of The Seine Rising With The Spring Thaw. Aimée Makes An Engaging Protagonist, Vulnerable Beneath Her Vintage Chic Clothing And Sharp-witted Exterior. (mar.)

copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Parisian P.I. Aime Leduc finds herself caring for an abandoned infant while trying to track down the childs missing mother Facing a tight deadline on a computer security contract, Aime responds to a telephone call from a stranger that leads her to an abandoned infant in a courtyard on the Ile Saint-Louis. She brings the baby home with her, calls her Stella, and awaits contact from the mother. But days pass, and no one reclaims the infant. Meanwhile, a group of environmental protesters is trying to stop the government from entering into a contract with an oil company notorious for pollution. As Aime attempts to identify the babys mother, two murders and an abortive bombing involving the protesters lead herand little Stellainto danger. On the run in the sewers beneath the Seine, Aime finally finds the woman she has been looking for, only to discover that the man she has fallen in love with is not who she thought he was. Praise for the Aimée Leduc series: "One of the best heroines in crime fiction."--Lee Child "The Parisienne Kinsey Millhone."-- Los Angeles Times "One of the best new writers in the field today."-- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Haunting."-- The New York Times Book Review Aimée is faced with a tight deadline on a computer security contract when a telephone call from a stranger leads her to an abandoned infant. She brings the baby to her home and names her Stella. She expects the mother to reclaim the child, but days pass as Aimée tries in vain to discover her identity. Her partner, René, urges her to turn the baby over to the authorities, but for Aimée this is too close to her own abandonment by her mother. The search brings her among ecological protesters and oil company tycoons, newspapermen and would-be actresses, as demonstrators near her home on the Ile... Aimee is working on a tight deadline when she discovers an abandoned infant in the courtyard of her home on the Ile Saint-Louis. While seeking the child's mother, Aimee becomes involved with environmental protesters and her life and that of little Stella are endangered by a cold-hearted killer French detective extraordinaire Aimee Leduc returns and finds herself with an abandoned infant, a drowned woman, a murdered client and a computer assignment deadline - all set on the wonderfully evoative Ile Saint-Louis Parisian computer expert Aimée Leduc finds herself in the midst of murder and corruption after an anonymous telephone call leads her to an abandoned baby girl.