by Cara Black
Part of Aimee Leduc Investigations, book 3
First published 2002
A stranger appears at Aimée Leduc's door with an impossible promise: information about her long-lost mother. The lead draws Aimée into the shadowy world of 1970s French radicals, people her mother apparently knew before she vanished. As Aimée follows clues through Paris streets, she uncovers connections between her mother's past and a dangerous political underground. The investigation becomes more than a case. Each revelation forces Aimée to confront what it means to grow up without a parent, to build an identity around an absence. She must decide how much she's willing to risk to learn the truth about the woman who left her behind. The search tests not just Aimée's detective skills but her capacity to accept painful realities about family and abandonment.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Paris, France
Period: 1970s
322 pages · Hardcover · Soho Crime