Q: This is the 10th book in the Aimée Leduc Investigation series. Did you know you'd write a whole series set in Paris when you wrote your first book?

A: Never in a million years. But Paris fascinates me, and the more I learn about it, the more I realize I don't know. Paris is composed of twenty arrondissements, or districts, each with its own flavor and distinct feel that I want to capture.

Q: You’re American, and you live in San Francisco. Why set your books in Paris?

A: I love off-the-beaten-track Paris, the side tourists rarely see, and I wanted to explore the darker side of the City of Light, to go beyond the beret and baguette stereotype and uncover the layers of history. My heroine, a private detective named Aimée Leduc, has a background in criminal work but focuses on computer security. She's got an edge, a contemporary view of Paris, a city flavored by the past.

Q: How do you research? Do you go to Paris? Do you speak French?

A: Research is the best part of being an author for me. I need to go to Paris. As I tell my husband, it's “work.” I visit Paris twice a year and am lucky to be able to stay with friends. My French—well, I can get by. I do research at the archives and libraries and interview police, musicians, and artists. I visit the district I'm writing about and get to know the people who live and work there: the cafe owners, the shop keepers. I join the local historical association. Over the years I've developed friendships with several female detectives and retired police officers whom I consult with when I’m writing a novel. It's important to get the details right, as my French contacts always tell me. I make a point of getting the geography of Paris—the streets, the monuments, the buildings—correct.

Q: What do you like to read?

A: I read nonfiction, especially biographies and historical works about the section of Paris I’m writing about at the time. But I love mysteries; I'm addicted. Any great book, whether mystery or literary novel, is something I want to read. I don't worry about genre. I just love a good book.

Q: Which authors do you feel have had the biggest influence on your writing?

A: So many. At the beginning, when I read P.D. James’s An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, I felt like my brain lit up. Here was a female character who was a detective, but she wasn't Nancy Drew. She was a character who felt real and vulnerable. And smart. My father was a big John le Carre fan, and he hooked me on the Smiley series. Phillip Kerr, who wrote Berlin Noir, a trilogy of his first three Bernie Gunther novels set in Berlin and Germany, inspired me to take a chance on writing about a foreign setting.

Q: When people say they “don’t read mysteries,” what do you think they mean, and why do you think they say this?

A: That happens often. People tell me, “I don't read mysteries, but your Paris setting intrigued me, and I love France...." I can only guess, but perhaps they think of mysteries as genre or pulp novels. Maybe this comes from the stigma of cheap sensationalistic paperbacks with lurid covers and taglines like “He killed by night.” Or they think of drawing room puzzles set in English villages. But the mystery genre has gone beyond that. Many mystery and crime novels deal with important contemporary issues; crimes are set against the backdrop of today's realities. Maybe that's why they're so compelling—they’re about the search for reasons behind random violence, hate crimes, prejudice and trying to make sense of them. They try to find some sort of resolution, which we often don’t find in real life. Look at Lush Life by Richard Price. That's categorized as a crime novel, but it's so much more.

Q: The series takes place in the ‘90s. What made you set the series during that period? Do you ever find it difficult to stay accurate while writing about the recent past?

A: My books take place in the mid-1990s. It's a period when France was joining the European Union. Things were changing, and secrets from the past about the German Occupation surfaced. French society began to come to terms with the legacy of World War II and colonialism in Indochina and North Africa. I spent a lot of time in Paris during this period, and wanted to write about what I saw. No one else that I knew of was writing about this particular period. I work very hard to use real events and details of the recent past to evoke the atmosphere I experienced. I've got the 1995 Paris telephone book (white and yellow pages—I had to use a whole suitcase to bring them home). Often I consult the Stanford University archives. They keep the newspaper Le Monde on microfiche, so I can look up the weather in Paris, what was on sale, and the movies in the theater on a particular day.

Q: Why did you choose the Palais Royal as the setting for this latest book?

A: I've wanted to write about the Palais Royal for a long time. I love this quiet oasis where Colette the famous writer lived, the place she called her “village.” The whole quartier is rich with history. It's across from the Louvre, but it feels completely tucked away. It’s amazing to me that it's in the center of Paris, but so many people miss it. The part I love is the garden surrounded by the Palais Royal arcades. It’s very quiet, and it seems exclusive and hidden in a way. It has a decayed aristocratic feel, but the pulse of Paris beats in the Comedie Francaise, the national theater, the Ministry of Culture, and the famous restaurant le Grand Vefour, which borders this garden. I've also watched Charade, the 1963 film version with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, countless times, and somehow I felt Aimée needed to be under those shadowy collonades in something Givenchy-esque like Audrey.So Murder in the Palais Royal takes place in October 1997, two months after Princess Diana's death in Paris. Aimée finds herself pulled into events that link back to the murder she investigated in my first book, Murder in the Marais. She's on a journey, in one way, a very personal one concerning her own past that parallels her investigation. And since the Palais Royal figured in Aimée's childhood, it seemed the perfect place for the murder to occur.

Note from the author to book clubs:

Dear Readers,

Remember the climax in the film Charade under the shadowed arcades of the Palais Royal in Paris? Imagine my detective Aimée Leduc under those same arcades. Murder in the Palais Royal is a contemporary look at the darker side of the city of light with Aimée caught in a whirlwind of intrigue after her partner René is shot.

Here’s what reviewers have had to say about the Aimée Leduc series:

"The buzz is partly about her heroine's hip, next-generation, cutting-edge investigations and partly about Paris, a setting of unrivaled charm."—Houston Chronicle

"The trendy byways of Paris belong to Aimée Leduc, the clever young sleuth in a winning series."—The New York Times Book Review

Feel free to email me at [email protected]. I'd be delighted to call in to your next book meeting to talk with you about Murder in the Palais Royal.

Yours,

Cara Black