Where has Aimee Leduc been all my life? I read alot of European crime fiction and I can’t believe it took me this long to get to Cara Blacks series about this Parisian private investigator. I’ll be making up for lost time, getting through as much of the 14 book series as I can in anticipation of the 15th book coming out in March. This tale picks up some months after the end of the last book Murder in Marais. She has healed from the plastic […]
Zen master from the Pyrenees?
Fred Vargas is a pseudonym for French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau. Her erudite and varied background really informs this well written and elegantly paced book. Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is new to the 5th arrondissement in Paris. Newly promoted from his home post in the Pyrenees, he walks the streets, taking in this city of stone. From the beginning, this wild child seems an incongruous choice to lead this Parisian precinct but his record and a small amount of fame preceed him. He easily solves the first murder […]
French twist
This first book in Cara Black’s Aimee Leduc Detective series was a lovely surprise. Along with her partner Rene, she runs a detective agency that specializes in computer forensics and security. However, they owe thousands in back taxes, not to mention being behind in other accounts. When a mysterious older gentleman insists she take his case in the name and memory of her deceased father and offers a fistful of cash she can’t refuse. While carrying out her duties, she stumbles upon a dead woman with a […]
Norwegian expats in Bangkok
A year after Olso police detective Harry Hole solved a sensational case in Sydney, Australia (detailed in The Bat) he is foundering. Drinking continuously and just barely getting by at work, he is still consumed by the horrors he encountered and obsessed with finding the man who brutally raped his sister. Then two colleagues are sent to the tavern where he is drinking with a directive: get on the next plane to Bangkok to help investigate-and keep quiet-the death of Norways ambassador to Thailand in a […]
In space, no one can hear you scream like a little girl
While standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, waiting as patiently as I could while a previous customer argued over coupon redemption and dug around for and counted out exact change, this book caught my eye. I don’t have a lot of experience with the sci fi genre but it was either that or some tabloid with one Kardashian or other on the cover. I picked it up, glanced at the cover, perused the enthusiastic blurbs and read the first few pages, suddenly […]
Ugh
Ugh. What a bunch of loathsome characters. I don’t know if I just don’t get the Dutch sense of humor and culture, but I cannot see why this book has been so lauded. It was torturous from start to finish and honestly I wouldn’t have finished this if it weren’t for CBR7. Two couples are meeting at a swanky restaurant to discuss some issue with their sons. The information comes in fits and starts and the premise is ludicrous from the get go. On and […]