Cara Black gives us the exciting 21st Aimee Leduc thriller in Murder at La Villette. Aimee is falsely framed for the murder of her estranged partner, father of her daughter. She has to go underground to find whodunit and ends tracking a serial killer. Non stop action and suspects. Read and find out the true story.

Cara Black turns in another solid performance with her latest novel in this series, a feat hard to accomplish in a series with so many entries. Fans will be enthused for another chance to read about Aimee's never-ending adventures and readers who are new to the series will have no trouble picking up on the near never-ending action.

After a break from writing the Leduc mysteries, there seems to be a slight shift in this return to the series. Unlike previous book, the translations from the French are far fewer and are less intrusive, to which I say "<i>merci</i>." It also feels as though the break reinvigorated the plot lines, even though there are certain things that appear in every book, sometimes multiple times (we don't really need two-three "best friend Martine" statements unless there's another Martine in the book!).

As for the the mystery, once again Aimee finds herself in a situation that quickly spirals out of control and requires her to call on all her resources (godfather, former colleagues, etc.). I will confess I spent far too much time on my map app following her around the La Villette neighborhood, having only been there once for a brief time. Next trip to Paris, I'm definitely going back! And while much if it is implausibly condensed action, it all seemed to make sense. Except the part where she's in an Orthodox Jewish synagogue and is told that the High Holy Days are soon... but this is April. There are important Jewish holidays in the spring, but the High Holy Days are in the fall. Perhaps that will be fixed in the final version?

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

This mystery series is one of my favorites, and this 21st installment did not disappoint. Aimee is on an undercover assignment, at the same time she is fighting Melac over custody of their daughter, Chloe. Aimee is framed for his murder, and must battle the injuries to her eight which occurred in a previous book. Another edge of the seat mystery while Aimee tries to find a murderer as well as a serial killer. Highly recommend this series to mystery lovers who want much more than a cozy, with depth and great characters. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Aimee is leaving the place where she has been working in la Villette, when she gets a call from her ex, the father of her daughter. Melac has been trying to get her to move with their daughter to Brittany where he has been living. In a message from him, she hears him say something about seeing a ghost and he is waiting for her near the canal. She heads that way to find that he is bleeding in the canal. As she tries to save him, someone knocks her windpipe, and then puts a bloody knife into her hands and cuffs her hands behind her. She hears him say that he has killed 2 birds with one stone and runs away. The police find her finger prints on the knife and she becomes the main suspect. Morbier gets her into the hospital, and as she begins to be a little better she manages to slip out of the hospital.

However, still not feeling totally better, she has to slip from place to place and solve the murder of her former husband before the police find her and put her in prison. The book is a very exciting series in Paris.

I thank Netgalley and Soho press for the chance to read the book before publication.

Murder at la Villette is the 21st novel in the Aimee Leduc Investigations series. It is also the first novel in this series that I have read. Although I have not read any of Cara Black's novels, it was easy to follow Murder at la Villette and pick up on the characters and who they are. Although number 21 in a series, Murder at la Villette can be read as a stand alone novel. There is little development of characters, who move in and out of the action with little notice. As a result, their histories becomes unimportant.

There are a lot of characters in Murder at la Villette, but it is easy to keep track of them. Aimee is the suspect in the murder of her daughter's father. As she goes into hiding, she has what appears to be a dozen or more different disguises that she is able to pull out of a small bag. Although she is supposedly tracked by police, she moves around Paris at will. The ending, when it appears, is anticlimactic. Perhaps that is why there are multiple endings. Admittedly, I am not a fan of novels that end with a twist and so the ending is not really the ending. It is a bit like a dead villain getting up and needing to be made dead again. Murder at la Villette has many twists at the ending(s).

Murder at la Villette is a book best enjoyed by a reader who can resist all logic and reality. Black's novel is like an action film, and in fact, I kept seeing it was an action film. The many disguises help to create that movie image, as well. This is a short novel that moves quickly. I want to thank the publisher Soho Press and NetGalley for sending this ARC for me to read and review. I suspect Black's many fans will enjoy this 21st outing for the Aimee Leduc series. My score is 3.5, bumped up to 4 stars for the fans who will be awaiting this next novel in the series.

Oh Aimee, how is it that trouble always finds you? I guess that what makes for an exciting read. This time Aimee stumbles across her dying ex, Melac. Then the killer knocks Aimee out and puts the knife in her hand. When she awakes in the hospital she is the number one suspect and her vision issues have returned. She needs to clear herself so she leaves the hospital and hits the street with her bag of disguises and bad vision to find the real killer.
Thanks to NetGalley for an eGalley of this title.

This was by far the most enjoyable book that Cara Black has written. One, Aimée gets rid of her ex by killing him off (not Aimée). Two, later in the book she gets to see her mother who takes Chloé to Switzerland for a visit. Three, she gets to meet Isabelle at one of her off site work visit's to help her and her brother. Four, Morbier tricks her into following up and finding both murders and he brings in her mother into the fray. Five, She was hit in the head and ended up blind periodically as she did before. Six, Bellan has problems of his own with renegotiating custody of his kids, he's Aimèe's new flame. Seven, Renè and Saj were into this and helped out in their separate ways. Eight, Sèbastien help her out by utilizing his vast network of houses he's refurbishing. Nine, Aimèe helps other people in this and gets them out of the country. Ten, I can go on with murders of people involved with the case. This goes on with Aimèe solving the case and Bellan gets blown up trying to help Aimèe. And Aimèe saves him before she leaves. This is pieces all out of order to show you it is interesting enough to read Cara's book.

This is the twenty first installment of Black's fascinating Aimée Leduc series and this one is a bit different. Aimee witnesses the murder of her ex and the father of her daughter and becomes the chief suspect. Suffering a concussion and the return of intermittent blindness, Aimee is forced to both hide and solve the murder and attempt to clear her name. As usual with this series the plot is intricate but this time also very insular. A very good addition to the series and highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher & to NetGalley for permission to read "Murder at la Villette", another acction-packed Cara Black mystery. Once again private detective Aimee Leduc is thrown into a whirlpool of police corruption and murder. This time, it is the father of her child who is murdered and Aimee's search to find the killer is made more difficult because she has been framed for the killing and the police are searching for her.
Although I sometimes found it a little difficult to keep track of all the characters coming in and out of her life, Ms Black keeps the reader fully entertained by the twists and turns of the story. (And I also appreciate the French words thrown in throughout the book. Thank you, Ms. Black for helping me practice my French!)
Although there are some gory details described throughout the book, I think that readers who enjoy twists and turns in a good mystery, will enjoy "Murder at La Villette.

Fantastic piece by Cara Black. The pace, the energy, the different lines feeding into the conclusion were outstanding. One could imagine walking throughout (or running as it may be) with Aimee and the cast of characters that surround her. A great title that was difficult to put down!