Introduction

The village-like neighborhood of Passy, home to many of Paris's wealthiest residents, is the last place one would expect a murder. But when Aimée Leduc's godfather, Morbier, a police commissaire, asks her to check on his girlfriend at her home there, that's exactly what Aimée finds. Xavierre, a haut bourgeois matron of Basque origin, is strangled in her garden while Aimée waits inside. Circumstantial evidence makes Morbier the prime suspect, and to vindicate him, Aimée must identify the real killer. Her investigation leads her to police corruption; the radical Basque terrorist group, ETA; and a kidnapped Spanish princess.

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Discussion Questions

From the publisher:

1) Morbier, Aimée’s godfather and police Comissaire, is the suspect in his fiancée Xavierre’s homicide. The police view it as a crime of passion. What’s the underlying reason the police find him a convenient suspect? What kind of corruption do you think is involved?

2) Aimée fights a growing attraction to Melac, the Brigade Criminelle homicide inspector she encountered and detested in the previous book, Murder in the Palais Royal. She’s always gone for bad boys; what’s her underlying fear concerning Melac, and what he represents?

3) Jean-Claude, Aimée’s father’s, was a policeman who left the force under a cloud of suspicion and ran Leduc Detective before his mysterious death in a bomb explosion in Place Vendome. How has that affected Aimée's view of the police? Of the government, or authority?

4) Aimée’s partner René Friant is often frustrated with her, especially when she puts Morbier’s problems before their business. Do you sympathize with René's frustration? Do you think Aimée too frequently puts personal affairs in front of business?

5) Why do you think Aimée feels the way she does about using her father’s old contacts in the police force?

6) Agustino, the now celebrated Basque painter, is working on a commission for the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. He’s eschewed violence and his past with the Basque militants. What does he want to express in his art that he couldn’t before?

7) Sebastian, Aimée’s avant garde cousin, is planning on getting married. Why do you think Aimée is so surprised? Why does Sebastian care so much about how Aimée will react?

8) What do you think Irati's relationship with her her aunt shows about the close ties in Basque families, or about the importance of home and tradition in the Basque culture?

9) Why does Léo, the telecommunications expert in a wheelchair, refuses at first to triangulate Irati’s cell phone location in helping to vindicate Morbier. Why?

10) History abounds in the chic 16th arrondissement home to the exclusive village-like enclave of Passy. When the Germans, during the Occupation of Paris in WWII, requisitioned so many buildings and mansions in that area, what do you suppose happened to the original owners? What is your sense of the feeling about the past present-day inhabitants feel about their quartier?

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»	Author Cara Black's web site
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