Rating: 
Summary: I loved Murder in the Marais
Review: I was very impressed by Carra Black's first book. I was completely consumed by the tale, and it was hard to believe I hadn't actually been in Paris myself while reading Murder in the Marais. The characterizations were very lucid to me, made more so by some nice quirky observations that made the story come alive in a refreshing way. I especially liked the heroine, Aimee Leduc, and felt myself to be along side her, rooting for her, throughout the hectic three day roller coaster ride. I am not usually a mystery reader, but this got me hooked, and I am itching to see what Aimee is up to in the next book. Take me back to Paris!
Rating: 
Summary: The feeling of Paris
Review: I've visited Paris and the Marais many times and while reading Ms. Black's book I could see steam rising off the sidewalks, hear the sound of the chase echoing off walls, and clearly envision the office upstairs. First effort, indeed, but a fleshed-out one with a seeming guarantee for not just more but better.
Rating: 
Summary: Too full of mistakes to be believable
Review: If I were to set out to write a book set in France, in which French phrases were to be used on virtually every page, I would take the time to check that the words and grammar were more or less correct. This author didn't bother. But even if she didn't, the editor certainly should have. A $6.95 paperback French-English dictionary would have made a huge difference. When I read about a supposedly French character talking about "le morte," and when the word for police changes genders in the same paragraph, I get too annoyed to take the book seriously. What happened? Is the publisher under the inpression that no one in America has taken French I?Even beyond that obvious problem, there are too many instances of just plain old poor writing to make the book worth reading. For example, when Aimee discovers the murdered woman, the author describes the body so confusingly that I had to reread the paragraph several times and still couldn't figure out what was going on with the splinters and scratches. Perhaps if the editor had done a better job this book might have been salvaged but we'll never know now.
Rating:
Summary: An enthralling mystery
Review: In November 1993 Paris, elderly Nazi Hunter Soli Hecht invokes his friendship with her dead father in appealing to computer forensic expert Aimee Leduc for her help. Reluctantly, she agrees to decipher the encrypted code that gives the appearance of the Cold War and to deliver the results into the hands of Lili Stein only. After quite a difficult time, Aimee breaks the code revealing an old World War II black and white photograph without any accompanying text. She heads to the Jewish section of Paris, Marais, to deliver her results to Lili. However, placing the photo in Lili's hand makes no sense any longer, as Aimee finds the body of the murdered elderly Jewish woman. Aimee is found at the scene and quickly concludes she might have problems as honor in the name of her father refuses to allow her to reveal her alibi to Inspector Morbier. Outside of her expertise, Aimee begins investigating the homicide on her own to clear her name. This reviewer actually read the superb MURDER IN BELLEVILLE book (second Leduc novel), which led to reading the debut Leduc tale, MURDER IN THE MARAIS. This novel is excellent, extremely complex, and filled with action and tension. The story line links historical hatred to 1993 prejudices in a frightfully realistic depiction that counterbalances the image of Gay Paree with that of the ethnic bleakness of the World War II era and of the early nineties through a great private sleuth. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Needs Less Action and More Characterization
Review: Instead of the expected 'wunder' detective praised lavishly by other readers, I was exposed to the radioactively hyper private investigator Aimee Leduc: thirty-something, sometimes chic, sometimes absurdly dressed in an impromptu disguise and definitely my current favorite to win the "Rambo-ette" title of contemporary crime. Yikes!
Ludicrously, Leduc does it all: hacks into complicated computer firewalls, spelunks the infamous rodent infested sewers of Paris, sucker punches neo-Nazi sympathizers and indulges in a few overnighters with nefarious chance acquaintances. By the time I finished "Murder in the Marais", I was shocked that Aimee had not confessed to being the sister of Batman, so attune was she in sensing danger, so adept at mysteriously appearing whenever she was needed. Please! How could someone so talented be so boring? I don't remember her spending one moment thinking about her real life or her lack of a real life during the entire 360 pages. After cramming 48 hours of punching, kicking, sleuthing, etc. activities into a 24 hour slot, astonishingly, Aimee does not seem to be burdened by at least one suitcase full of complicated psychological baggage. Instead of the 'seen it all' and 'there ain't no surprises' cynicism of the Aurelio Zen genre, Aimee is fueled with an adrenaline boosting fearlessness which seems abnormal, cartoon-ish and just plain impractical. Her purpose is as one-dimensional as her portrayal--'above all--get the job done', but unfortunately this adds little flesh and blood to her character. The reader never likes or dislikes her---we merely plow through all the comic book happenstance and coincidence until the last page wondering when some empathy and emotion will kick in. For me, it never did.
The secondary characters are likewise flat and stereotypical. There is no jolt of electricity that animates them beyond the pages of the book. Even the most controversial players, the actual murderer and an assortment of Jew-hating Third Reicht resurectees appear ho-hum---even their evil deeds do not distinguish them. Rather, we are told they are evil, but it is never really demonstrated in any heinous or different way.
The only redeemable assembly in this B-rated melange is the unlikely unit of Sarah, Thierry, and Helmut. The two stars that I award to this book are for the recounting of their doomed relationship and for the potentially poignant exploration of what could have been---only third hand information is offered in the denouement.
I recommend this book only to those Francophiles who must read everything with even the faintest French flavor.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Page Turner
Review: It's 1993 and an old woman is dead in the Marais, Paris' Jewish quarter. Detective Aimee Leduc is hired to help solve the crime. The plot, which involves betrayals from the Vichy era, has a lot of twists, murders (and attempted murders) and will keep you turning pages until you found out who done it. I enjoyed this book very much with its evocative Paris setting. You will enjoy it too! I recommend picking up a copy and taking it with you on vacation. Your vacation agenda may get a bit delayed when you can't put it down!
Rating: 
Summary: computer scientist - never - the errors destroy the image
Review: Liked the book a lot, great atmosphere, good plot, but the author makes some incredible misstatements about computers. For example: in this book she receives a folder with an encrypted "computer code " (sic?). She says that the client could have faxed it in thus it must be paper. [beware sery semi-technical stuff folllows - A small b&w (2 inches by 4) picture of any resolution, say that of this screen would be 50000 bytes or 400000 bits. If the bytes were printed as letters and symbols (improbable in itself for technical reasons)that would be 25 solid pages of meaningless strings of letters. If this were represented as 1's and 0's it would be 200 pages.] Then she uses "special software' to decrypt
it. Decryption with the password is instant, decryption without a password is an enormous, long task that takes lots of power and time particularly if the user doesn't know what the code represents, text, image or sound. Other howling defects. SHe and her partner use common names as usernames with no mention of passwords - even naiive computer people would never use a simple single word for any secure system. Their system is zapped instantly by another computer - again, these are computer security people with no firewalls or virus software? The point of this is not too nitpick but twofold: If the protagonist is an expert is something, this same protagonist shouldn't be wrong every time she talks about her area of specialty. Two, these constant errors of fact just destroy the atmosphere the author creates so well with the rest of her text.
Rating:
Summary: Sucre a la droite.....
Review: MURDER IN THE MARAIS is a good read, so pack it up and take it with you on your transatlantic flight to Paris. I read it in about 6-7 hours. Cara Black provides a map of the Marais District in the front of the book so you can locate some of the action as you read. The Marais is a picturesque area of old buildings and twisting narrow streets that frequently end in cul de sacs. Recently, the area has been undergoing gentrification. As Black points out, the Marais escaped the "enlightenment" phase of the 19th Century renovation of the City of Paris when whole blocks of the very old buildings lining the medieval network of streets were razed to create boulevards. Once upon a time, the Marais was home for most of the Jews of Paris. When the Nazis arrived in the early 1940s, they began a systematic program of eliminating the Jewish population of Paris and France. As a result, a population that once numbered in the millions now numbers about 100,000. Most of these Jews died in the camps -- Bergen Belson, Treblinka, and elsewhere. Following the war, many of the survivors migrated to Israel or America. Murder in the Marais involves the death of an elderly Jewish woman, Lili, who survived the Holocaust and continued to live hidden in the Marais like Anne Frank in Amsterdam until someone informed the Nazis. Aimee Leduc becomes involved with the death of Lili because she has been doing some investigative work for the association that tracks and captures ex-Nazis and Lili has been found with a Swastika carved on her forehead. Soon Leduc finds herself up against some of the nastiest sorts of people one can imagine -- Nazi werewolves who plan to regain power, whose motto is "Unter den Linden", neo-Nazi skinheads who worship their Aryan forebears, and corrupt French officials. Leduc is up to the challenge, however. She is a gun-toting, cigar-smoking, joint-twisting, incredibly flexible gal who has more than one shoot-out, physical struggle, and fall from a high place through the course of the novel. If I didn't know better, I'd think Aimee Leduc was Stephanie Plum's cousin and this was New Jersey. Excepting Leduc, Black's characters are fairly realistically if somewhat hyperactivally drawn. Certainly the neo-Nazis and Greens take their politics very seriously. In Paris, whether one uses sucre a la droite (white sugar) or sucre a la gauche (brown sugar) can get you killed. Also very important is how you draw your swastika.
Rating:
Summary: engrossing and thought provoking
Review: Murder in the Marais is an extremely good example of what a mystery novel can do. In exploring the motivations behind the murders in the old Jewish district of Paris, the author deals with the passions,cowardice and courage of the characters she writes about, which means the book tackles no less a subject than life itself.
If the cobblestones could speak, a haunting tale like this would be told. Sounds, smells and layers of history gave this novel dimensions rare in a first novel.
Rating:
Summary: a compelling mix of wartime intrigue and high-tech sleuthing
Review: MURDER IN THE MARAIS is Cara Black's debut novel featuring young Parisian sleuth Aimee Leduc. Set against a backdrop of WWII Nazi crimes, international politics/diplomacy, and slick, high-tech detective work, you have a highly-entertaining thriller. The "smoking gun" is an old photograph Aimee discovers in her investigation, which leads her to uncover a power conspiracy going back to Nazi Germany. The twists and turns of the plot will keep you up very late.... The characters are well-written and include both major and minor players to the story. If you've been to Paris, her descriptions of the city, its streets and people will bring back vivid memories. Paris is not only the City of Light here, but a city harboring dark secrets and hidden history. C'est super! Encore, Cara Black! Looking forward to MURDER IN BELLEVILLE.
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