by Cara Black
Part of Aimee Leduc Investigations, book 5
First published 2006
Aimée Leduc agrees to help Vietnamese nun Linh with what seems like a simple task. She needs to travel to the Clichy district and swap an envelope for a package with a man named Thadée Baret. René Friant, her business partner, encourages the favor since Linh has been teaching Aimée meditation at the Cao Dai temple. The exchange goes terribly wrong when someone shoots Baret dead. He dies in Aimée's arms before completing the transaction. The computer security specialist finds herself wounded and holding a 50,000 franc check plus a collection of ancient jade pieces. The killer wants those jade artifacts. Multiple dangerous groups circle around her. The French secret service gets involved. Veterans from the Indochina war emerge as suspects. Wealthy former colonials and international oil companies join the hunt. Linh vanishes without explanation. Aimée promised to stay out of danger after an incident left her temporarily blind. She discovers that trouble finds her regardless of her intentions.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, reluctant-hero
Setting: Clichy, Cao Dai Temple
Period: 20th-century
352 pages · Paperback · Soho Crime
Content warnings: violence