Aimée Leduc is happy her long-time business partner René has found a girlfriend. Really, she is. It’s not her fault if she can’t suppress her doubts about the relationship; René is moving way too fast, and Aimée’s instincts tell her Meizi, this supposed love of René’s life, isn’t trustworthy. And her misgivings may not be far off the mark: Meizi disappears during a Chinatown dinner to take a phone call and never comes back to the restaurant. Minutes later, the body of a young man, a science prodigy and volunteer at the nearby Musée, is found shrink-wrapped in an alleyway—with Meizi’s photo in his wallet. Aimée does not like this scenario one bit, but she can’t figure out how the murder is connected to Meizi’s disappearance. The dead genius was sitting on a discovery that has France’s secret service keeping tabs on him. Now they’re keeping tabs on Aimée. A missing young woman, an illegal immigrant raid in progress, botched affairs of the heart, dirty policemen, the French secret service, cutting-edge science secrets and a murderer on the loose—what has she gotten herself into? And can she get herself—and her friends—back out of it all alive? Praise for Murder at the Lanterne Rouge "Outstanding.... Readers will relish realistic villains and an evocative atmosphere that begs for a trip to the City of Lights." —Publishers Weekly , Starred Review "Black expertly weaves the social issues of Chinese sweatshops and illegal immigrants with current science and computer technology, 14th-century Templars and guilds, and the local police and French secret service." —The Columbus Dispatch "[O]ne of the most atmospheric crime novels I've read in a long time." —Bookreporter.com Black has painted such a rich sense of place, and crafted much in the way of gripping diversions and accelerating drive to rivet the reader to the pages." —Blogcritics.org "Paris never needs a new look, and neither does Aimée Leduc." —Booklist "Perfectly plotted.... Filled with evocative details and quirky characters as delightful as the smell of a fresh-baked baguette." —BN.com, Mystery Pick of the Month "The pace accelerates as fast as Aimee's Vespa.... Murder at the Lanterne Rouge is wonderfully plotted, and Cara Black ties together the past and present with élan." —New York Journal of Books "[Black] lets readers peek into a corner of Paris that Fodor's leaves out." —Kirkus Reviews “With this series, it’s easy to feel you’ve just been to Paris, and to a side of the city tourists rarely see..” —Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine “Black's Paris is one we are always happy to visit again.” —Reviewing the Evidence “Smoothly written and tightly plotted." —Mystery People "Narrated in Black's staccato, caffeine-propelled style, Murder at the Lanterne Rouge is one of the most complex investigations yet for Leduc." — Kingdom Books Praise for the Aimée Leduc series "Transcendently, seductively, irresistibly French." — Alan Furst "Wry, complex, sophisticated, intensely Parisian.... One of the very best heroines in crime fiction today." — Lee Child "So authentic you can practically smell the fresh baguettes and coffee." — Val McDermid Cara Black is the author of eleven previous books in the New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc series, all of which are available from Soho Crime. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son and visits Paris frequently. Friday Evening Too small for a bomb, Aimée Leduc thought, nudging with her high-heeled toe at the tiny red box on the cold landing outside Leduc Detective’s office. No card. Curious, she picked up the red gift-wrapped box, sniffed. Nothing floral. A secret admirer? The timed hallway light clicked off, plunging the landing into darkness. She shivered, closed the frosted glass door behind her, and hit the light switch. The chandelier’s crystal drops caught the light and reflected in the old patinated mirror over the fireplace. For once the high-ceilinged nineteenth-century office was warm, too warm. The new boiler had gone into overdrive. Her nose ran at the switch from the chill January evening to a toasty, warm office. She set down her shopping bags—January was the season of soldes , the big sales. She’d blown her budget. Et alors , yogurt and carrots at her desk for the next week. She slung her coat over the chair and noticed a chip on her rouge - noir -lacquered pinkie. Zut . She’d have to spring for a manicure. The office phone trilled, startling her. “Tell me you found Meizi’s birthday present, Aimée,” came the breathless voice of René, her business partner at Leduc Detective. “The damned jeweler screwed up the delivery.” “Small red box? You mean it’s not for me?” she joked. She shook the box and heard a rattle. Maybe those jade earrings she’d seen him looking at. “You’re serious about Meizi? I mean, that kind of serious?” “One day you’ll meet your soul mate, too, Aimée.” Soul mate? He’d known Meizi what, two months? But Aimée bit h