Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis

By: Cara Black

Narrated by: Carine Montbertrand

Parisian P.I. Aimée Leduc finds herself caring for an abandoned infant while trying to track down the child’s missing mother

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 theircomputer 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?©2007 Cara Black (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Highly enjoyable

Set in February, 1995 (about a month after the previous book concludes). And apparently published in 2011? I have to admit, it tickles me to hear all the casual references to using floppy disks, and backing up an entire HDD to a few 3.5" floppies &/or Zip disks, lol. And other things like a blinking green cursor on the screen, using an instant Polaroid camera (not one mention of digital cameras yet, let alone being built into phones!), and computer security passcodes could still be 3 or 4 characters (all lower case, no number, no special symbols, heh). Ah, the old days... anyway...

The previous couple of installments were less than Stella(r) [ha, see what I did there? Read this one baby, you'll get what I mean, heh heh]

Bad puns aside, the murder mystery here was quite interesting. The eco-hysteria angle aside, experiencing Aimee' when a sudden & unexpected baby is dropped into her life by someone she doesn't know (but who is running for her life!) was very engaging. Also, the way Rene' was portrayed was *so* well done, I could visualize every action and emotion he had, and so vividly! The best portrayal of him since the first book.

My only gripe this time is again, so many French phrases, signs read, and casual comments made are not translated into English. Yes, most are, but not all. Mildly irritating for a 7-10 word phrase, place name, or who knows what, not to be explained for the English translation dependent.

disappointed

i've listened to most of the 'aimee' books by cara black and while they weren't great books they were at least good. this one though was so disappointing i almost didn't finish. it was slow and boring.
if i listen to another one of her books i'll get it through the online library like i did her others and not waste one of my credits on audible.