Murder in Marais

Cara Black has written a terrific mystery set in Paris.  Her descriptions are wonderful and detailed. You can almost feel like you are in Paris.  Her plot line is in depth and keeps the reader guessing which direction the mystery will go to the end.  This is a thrilling quick-paced novel with plenty of red herrings and misdirection.

Le Marais is the historic Jewish district of Paris spreading across parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris.  During World War II this area was targeted by the Nazis when they were occupying France.  Here many jews were rounded up and taken to concentration camps.

In this first in the series novel, Aimee LeDuc, a private investigator who usually only takes corporate security cases, is on the trail of killer, who has ties to the Nazis.  At first its seems she is being asked to find a missing person, but when that woman turns up dead, LeDuc is off on a much more violent, dangerous search. This search takes her into a Nazi supremacist group who are intent on creating violent disturbances around modern day Paris in hopes of disrupting a meeting of the European Union delegates attending the trade summit that is arranged to be taking place at the Place de la Concorde.

One man, Hartmuth Griffe, a German trade advisor, is returning to Paris for the first time since he served in the German army during the occupation.  He is staying at the Hotel Pavillion de la Reine in Marais with all the memories that stirs up for him.  He has a secret he is holding close to his chest.
There are others in the French government that are also hiding secrets.

As LeDuc investigates the murder of the woman she was asked to find, other people she speaks to are also dying unexpectedly. Then she is personally threatened.  Aimee is not one to give in to threats, so she just starts searching deeper.  When the Interpol Inspecteur Morbier , her mentor, is called of the case she knows she is on the right path.  The trail of violence and intrigue will lead all the way to the top of a corrupt government.

A story that intertwines the Holocaust and its violence with the human condition and love.  That balances the results of war with human life.  Aimee interviews older residents asking about their recollections of the war years, a time they would rather forget.  Clara Black intersperses the backdrop of the war and the round ups in Marais against the modern day City of Lights.  And just to add a bit of spice to the novel LeDuc gets involved with a Aryan sympathizer as she tries to unravel the complex circumstances that surround the murder of Lili Stern.