Publisher's Weekly Review
Family matters dominate bestseller Black's absorbing 15th Aimée Leduc investigation (after 2014's Murder in Pigalle). The baptism party of Aimée's six-month-old baby, Chloé, is complicated by the arrival of the baby's biological father, Melac, and by Nicu, an anguished Gypsy boy. Melac and his new wife want to share custody of Chloé. Nicu insists that his dying mother, an old family acquaintance and informant of Aimée's late father, who ran the detective agency she inherited, has information to share about Aimée's father's unsolved murder a decade earlier. Classic spy scenes with an old-fashioned feel-meetings with dramatic figures in the back of cafés, trailing suspicious characters at fashionable parties-brush up against Aimée's angst at managing life as a working single mother, while modern behavioral sensibilities and high-level politics butt heads with Gypsy traditions. Black imbues Aimée's personal story with an exotic charm that feels more intimate than foreign. Agent: Linda Allen, Linda Allen Literary Agency. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Aime Leduc (Murder in Pigalle, 2014, etc.) puts everything on the line to solve her most vexing cold casethe murder of her father.In France as elsewhere, the Roma live by their own rules, forging alliances and settling disputes within their own clans. So when Nicols Constantin, a manouche teenager, approaches Aime, she can hardly believe what he asks of her: to come to Hpital Laennec on the Left Bank so his dying mother can make peace before passing. Convinced that Drina Constantin's deathbed confession will shed light on the explosion in Place Vendme that killed her detective father, Aime leaves her infant daughter, Chlo, with child minder Babette and hurries over to the chic 7th arrondissement, only to find that Drina has disappeared. Aime is torn. She wants to be a good parent, especially now that the child's father, Melac, and his new wife, Donatine, have shown their determination to challenge her for custody. But to be the parent Chlo needs, Aime needs to understand her own parents. What did her father know that made someone want to get him out of the way? And was his death connected to the disappearance of her mother years earlier? Aime's search for answers takes her to the chic homes of haute bourgeoisie like Madame Uzes, who pinches her pennies while running missions for the gens du voyage; meanwhile, Aime's partner, Ren, haunts dives like La Bouteille aux Puces, where Madame Bercou knows somebody who knows somebody who might know Drina. But it isn't until she finds Roland Leseur, an official at the Quai d'Orsay, whose younger brother Pascal, before his presumed suicide, was the youngest deputy in the Assemble Nationale, that Aime gets an inkling of the lofty heights her case will reach. Aime's 15th outing is a killer, with all the suspense, all the surprise and all the Parisian flavor you'd expect from Black. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Change is the operative word in the fifteenth installment of Black's wildly popular, Paris-set Aimée Leduc series. The bump that appeared on Aimée s normally svelte physique is now a full-fledged baby, Chloé, and Aimée's relationship with la bébé's father has gone from hot to cold to hostile, for he has married on the rebound and is now looking to get custody of the child. Into all this domestic turmoil comes a young gypsy boy with a yellowing note from Aimée's murdered father offering help to the boy's family. Will Aimée visit the boy's mother in the hospital before she dies? Yes, she will, but by the time she and the boy, Nicu, arrive, the woman has disappeared. So begins our heroine's latest gallop around Paris as she struggles to avoid the mysterious factions who seem intent on killing anyone who can help her unravel the many mysteries of her past. Black once again delivers what her readers crave: high-speed Parisian peregrinations, chic suspense, a touch of humor, and the indomitable Aimée, as unstoppable with a baby strapped to her hip as she was with one growing in her belly. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The popularity of Black's series, especially in libraries, has grown steadily over the years, with Aimée and company finally assuming a perch they are not likely to surrender on most bestseller lists.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2015 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Smart and sassy French detective Aimée Leduc always finds trouble, and it's no different in her current outing, a terrific new addition to a series that most recently included Murder in Pigalle. Aimée is deliriously happy after having had a baby, but little Chloé's father, Melac-long missing in action-suddenly shows up at the christening to argue that he and his new wife can give Chloé a better home than Aimée can. Then, as she leaves the church, Aimée is approached by a gypsy boy named Nicu who claims that his dying mother, promised help whenever necessary by Aimée's late father, has something important to disclose. Convinced that she might learn the key to her father's tragic death, Aimée rushes to the hospital, only to find the patient vanished and the staff suspiciously noncommittal. Tension mounts as Aimée hunts for the missing Drina while trying to secure legal help in keeping her baby. Verdict The Aimée Leduc series always delights, but this new title is especially good. Melac's efforts to secure custody of Chloé add depth and anxious moments to the story, and what Aimée learns about her father is immensely sad while pushing the series along to a new level. [See Prepub Alert, 9/8/14.]-Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.