Murder in the Rue de Paradis

Most murder mysteries follow a set formula, especially those with a central protagonist whose history and mannerisms become familiar to their readers, and Cara Black's Aimee Leduc series is no exception. What makes hers especially interesting are the historical, geographical, architectural, and cultural details of her carefully researched settings, each mystery set in its own Parisian neighborhood. Her plots move swiftly and she sustains our interest to the end. Cara Black's stories, though,deserve to be read by someone with a more colorful voice.

I love Cara Black's books, but the reader here was impossible for me to listen too. Most of the time far too slow - listened on double speed for a while. However, beyond this, the rather flip style trivialized the heroine for me and made the story too unconvincing. Very disappointing indeed...

Murder in the Rue de Paradis is a decent detective novel set in an amazing city. Narration is a quite slow but easy to follow. I did not like how the story line cuts scenes to introduce and revisit different characters, it's abrupt and confusing at times. The mystery is intriguing although the terrorist plot is not my cup of tea. I did enjoy the book and will certainly continue reading the Aimee Leduc series.

The writing in this novel is truly trite. The narration is highly irritating; she combines a normal New York accent for the dialog with an occasionally correct French accent for the French names, streets, etc. I found the combination just about unbearable. I managed to listen for only 51 minutes, so I don't know whether the plot was an interesting one or not. However, I am not hopeful about that parameter either.