Thursday, June 13, 2019

Aimée Leduc's Paris, spycraft in Bel-Air

HALLIE EPHRON: A new Aimée Leduc mystery is the next best thing to a trip to Paris. I love the series, and today I'm thrilled to be hosting its delightful author Cara Black.

Cara, you’ve taken your readers on 19 adventures, each to a different part of Paris. I remember being blown away by your first,
Murder in the Marais, cheering books later when Aimée found herself pregnant and tracking a serial rapist in Pigalle. Loved her computer savvy and fearlessness, her fashion sense and Kohl eyes, and the way you interweave history into every story.

I know you’re touring now with
Aimée’s new adventure in Bel-Air. Not a tourist destination, or is it?

CARA BLACK: That’s right, Hallie, Bel-Air, in the 12th arrondissment is off the beaten track in Paris.

I’ve visited Paris often over the years and been so lucky to stay there due to the generosity and tolerance of my Parisian friends who’ve offered a couch, or a bedroom and sometimes an apartment in exchange for cat-sitting. One of these friends is Madame Gerbault, the mother of my French neighbor in San Francisco, who lives in Bel-Air and that her quiet, seemingly peaceful quartier had been the royal hunting grounds of the kings and site of the worst excesses of the Revolution ie the guillotine at Place de la Nation where 1,306 victims had been executed and their bodies dumped in a mass grave...literally, next door to her apartment.

I discovered that like everywhere in Paris, history is only below the surface. And that Madame Gerbault’s quartier was ripe for my story.

HALLIE: You took a huge leap when you got
Aimée pregnant and now she’s a single mother. But you’ve followed Raymond Chandler’s advice: “A really good detective never gets married.” But how complicated life is now for her with Chloé to worry about. And yet… that very thing becomes integral to the plot of your new book. Tell us about it.

CARA: Aimée is a single mother juggling her business - at the detective agency where she must earn the baguette and butter it too along with her responsibilites as a mother and her bébe Chloé her priority. Add to that Chloé’s biological father, Melac, a problematic relationship and her American mother Sydney, who’s popped back into her life (she’d abandoned Aimée when Aimée was eight years old) who never makes it easy. Aimée feels a push and pull with Melac since he’s Chloé’s father but knows him not to be ‘marriage’ material or is he...?

HALLIE: Ooh, I like that romantic tension!

In this book you take a deep dive into international spycraft and post-colonial Franco-African politics. Tell us about how you researched that.
CARA: My friend Laurence, a French journalist, went to live in the Cote d’Ivoire - Ivory Coast - a former French colony in Africa that had been the shining jewel in the necklace of France-Afrique as they called it. Cote d’Ivoire had a stable government and political scene, the French language, profitable chocolate trade, an easy access for the French on an exotic holiday but according to Laurence all was not rosy. This intrigued me and in 1999 when my story is set, a coup d’etat was in the works and the Cote d’Ivorian government overturned in a coup d’etat on Christmas day in 1999.

I researched with the help of Laurence, who sadly, died there in a plane crash last year. I also met French aid workers from UNICEF who’d been stationed in French Africa in the 90’s and a French military advisor (African division) to the UN who provided invaluable info and historical data. Of course, I’ve fictionalized certain elements and veiled some characters, but basically a lot of these events happened.

HALLIE: How does this book take
Aimée into uncharted territory, and where are you thinking she might go next?CARA: The world of espionage fascinates me - especially the female component and how talented women can be as spies. Blend-in, stand out and all shades in between doing undercover, right? From Mata Hari in WWI, to the many unsung SOE female operatives in WW2 occupied Europe, to the Cold War and present day. Aimée’s mother we learn, SPOILER, worked with the CIA and is a freelancer now, who embroils her daughter in her work involving the Cote d’Ivoire.

I think Aimée is wired - despite her fighting it - to be a great spy...that’s if she took the offer she gets. It was fun to play with this possibility, dangle it in front of her and I’m leaving that open ended...

HALLIE: ... and leaving US dangling!

If readers want to catch up with you on tour, where should they head?

CARA: As you read this I’ll be mid-tour and at the wonderful Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale AZ this evening. Then on to bookstores in the LA area; Mystery Ink, Chevalier’s Books, Vroman’s, Mysterious Galaxy then back east to NY, NC, and Houston and in July in DC with pal Sujata Massey. It’s all on www.carablack.com at events and hope some of your readers can come by to help me celebrate 20 years of Aimée Leduc. I never knew when I began writing that I’d have a more than a twenty year intimate relationship with my fictional detective!

HALLIE: Readers and Reds, have you been to Paris or only experienced it through pictures? See anything that would inspire YOU to write a nice juicy crime novel?

36 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Cara, on your new book. Aimée’s adventures are always terrific reading.
    I’ve never been to Paris, but I’ve enjoyed experiencing it through Cara’s wonderful books . . . .

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    1. Merci, Joan and my pleasure. Last night someone said it was like a trip to Paris without the airfare

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  2. My sister loves the Aimee Leduc series and got to meet Cara a few years back. She will be stoked that there is a new book for her to read.

    I have not been to Paris and given how bad I was in school at learning French, I really don't have a desire to do so.

    One of my former players and her dad are headed to France (or might already be there) for the Women's World Cup. So at least they'll be having some fun over there.

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    1. Paris is a tough city to visit alone if you don't know any French. And learning a language does NOT get easier. In the rest of France, they French are much more forgiving and generous. And the food is amAZing!

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    2. Hallie, the only thing I remember from taking French in high school is how to say "I can't speak French". And that was taught to me by a math teacher.

      As for the food, well you've seen my various responses to the food posts here at JRW, my palate is rather limited so that's not a real selling point for me.

      I am more fluent in Klingon than I'll ever be in French. LOL

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    3. Jay, the argot on the street is totally different from what I learned in school taking French!

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  3. The very first place I traveled to in Europe was Paris, after a lifelong ambition to do so. It was everything I dreamed it would be, and so much more.

    Cara, I have also read some of your Amiee Leduc books, but am woefully behind. It's fun to try to pick out landmarks I've seen while reading, although the action is far more engrossing, and I forget about the city itself.

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    1. LOVED when she visited the tunnels under Paris.

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    2. Wow...sorry to be late in replying and I love all these comments. I’m at the Milwaukee airport and grabbing wifi before the flight to Phoenix

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  4. I've been to Paris many times, and as most of you here know, it's my favorite place in the entire world. Period. I've read a few but not all your books Cara, and, like Karen, am woefully behind. But I must admit I rarely read books about Paris for some reason, preferring to be there in the flesh. For those of you who worry about the language barrier, all you have to do is learn the requisite polite phrases, and the French will take care of the rest. Unlike us, they are mostly bilingual.

    We will probably go to France again next year since health issues have kept my 2019 travels to a minimum. I'm torn between spending the entire time in Paris or renting a car and driving south. Jess Lourey's pictures also have inspired me to go to Picardy, and also, we've never toured the Loire Valley. So little time, so much France.

    A bientot

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    1. Congratulations on the latest book!
      I've never been to Paris and I'm slightly embarrassed to say that it has not been on my trave radar. Although I agree with Finta, after seeing Jess Lourey's pics, things might change.

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    2. We've been to France multiple times but never to Picardy. Hmmm....

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    3. Don’t forget Lyon, the other food capitol of France...it’s full of traboules, these passages used by ancient silk weavers and definitely a possible murder location

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  5. We visited Versailles one brisk November day. As the light faded, we found ourselves in the Queen's hamlet, a long hike back to the palace. Would darkness fall before we made our way back? Was there CCTV? Did anyone know we were in the far reaches of the garden? Did anyone care? If someone murdered us, how long before our bodies were found in the farm pond?

    Cara, I enjoyed your 2016 talk at the French Library in New Orleans.

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    1. Whoa that sounds ike it was scary. Those gardens are vast. I wonder if Aimee's found a body there... yet.

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    2. Can’t wait to go back to Nola for the upcoming Bouchercon, Margaret. You’re thinking like a crime writer!

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    3. If anyone is interested, here's some fasciating info about traboules: https://thisislyon.fr/things-to-do/historical-monuments/the-traboules/

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  6. Love you so much--and your books are always incredible. And make me swoon with wanting to visit again. (My favorite memory is when we went to Pau, and I was the one, since I spoke halting French, who had to try to rent a car. I came out of the agency all smiles. I either just rented a car for 25 dollars a day, or bought a car for 25,000. we shall soon find out!
    And we stayed at an old mill in Les Andelys, La Colline, which was so gorgeous.
    But a mystery in Paris? My favorite memory there was happening upon the concert of the century: Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo, on the Champs de Mars. Can you imagine? We got fabulous seats, again by chance. But SO crowded...hmmm. Wonder who else was there, and what might have happened in the commotion?

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  7. Renting a car is daunting, Hank :) glad you didn’t buy it!

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  8. Never been to Paris, but I've read of it through books. Mark Pryor's Hugo Marston series is another one that gives a good flavor of Paris. I love how each of Cara's books explores a different Paris neighborhood.

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  9. Cara, what will you do when you run out of arondissements? There are, after all, only 20.

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  10. I've only been to Paris via pictures and books. Some day.

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  11. Hi Cara, waving at you from Dallas!! So excited there is a new Aimee! I've been a fan since the very beginning and for me every book is like meeting up with old friends. I love Paris, but haven't been in nearly a decade--ouch, how does time go so fast? All my visits have been brief, however, and I'd love to go for a longer stay--using Aimee as my guide. For exploring other parts of France, I'd take along Ann Mah's Mastering the Art of French Eating.

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    1. Waving back, Deb. Thanks so much for the kind words! We’ve always seemed to just miss each other when you’ve been in London researching and I’ve been in Paris ditto on the research. We’ve got to figure this out and Aimée would love to show you around! Next time. I follow Ann’s culinary recommendations in Paris, too - there’s a great list on her website.

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  12. Never been to Paris but I enjoy seeing it through the eyes of Mark Pryor’s Hugo Marston. I’ll work on adding Aimée to my my TBR list, Cara!

    And now to see if Blogger is going to try to bully me again today!!

    DebRo

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  13. I only visited Paris once and sprained my ankle hurrying down the stairs at our hotel when the lift was down. Luckily it was at the end of our trip, so I managed to visit everything I wanted to see except the Louvre, 😔. I did visit Beaune in Burgundy so I really enjoyed Ann Mah’s A Vintage Year set there. I’ve been meaning to start Cara Black’s series. Maybe now is the time.

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  14. Ann Mah’s Book is The Lost Vintage. Published last year.

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    1. Teri, The Lost Vintage was one of my favorite books last year. Her Mastering the Art of French Eating is non-fiction, very enjoyable, too.

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  15. Can't wait to read your latest Aimee novel Cara! Congrats! Love all the Paris locations and history you include. Visited Paris years ago, but would love to return and see some of the things on my very long Paris Things To See & Do list. Hope to attend your talk in Wash DC in July.

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  16. I spent one very short weekend in Paris when I was in college. Would love to go back some day.

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    1. Paris is always a good idea - Audrey Hepburn :)

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  17. I recently did a deep dive into Paris and Cara’s books were at the top of my list. Such a fabulous series! Can’t wait to read the latest!

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