Parisian private investigator Aimée Leduc returns for her 20th mystery, MURDER AT THE PORTE DE VERSAILLES, which is perhaps the most exciting and (literally) explosive book that I can remember from Cara Black in quite a while.

The action is set in 2001, not long after the events of 9/11, and the world is very much on edge. Aimée is throwing a birthday party for her three-year-old daughter, Chloe, and all of her closest friends and family are there. The only person missing is Boris Viard, the partner of Aimée’s friend, Michou. He has gone back to the police laboratory where he works to retrieve Chloe’s present.

Aimée then receives a strange phone call that appears to be coming from Boris’ phone, yet the voice on the other end is not his, and there are strange noises in the background. When she asks who this person is, all she hears is someone saying, “The robot is activated. Stand clear.” A news bulletin then comes over the phone about a potential bombing at the police laboratory.

"MURDER AT THE PORTE DE VERSAILLES is incredible fun, and it is wonderful seeing Cara Black operating at the top of her game."

Boris is found in the rubble, but he is in bad shape and is taken to the hospital where he is put in a self-induced coma. It turns out that an officer was killed, so this has now become a murder investigation. Aimée shows Loic Bellan, an officer who works with the French secret service, a newspaper clipping that somehow was slipped into her pocket at the scene. Smeared across it in black ink are the words “WE HAVE STRUCK AGAIN.” The question on everyone’s mind is whether or not this incident is related to the 1986 bombings of Interpol at the hands of an Iranian-funded terrorist group.

Aimée’s father worked that long-ago case, and she digs up coverage from that time to help with her investigation. She and her friends are all taken aback when they learn that Boris, who is still in a coma, has been moved to police custody as he is now considered a suspect. Aimée knows Boris was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and she offers her services to Bellan’s special investigative team, which they accept. She learns of a local boy whose family is known to hers. Hugo lives in the apartment across from where the bombing happened, and he may have a photo of the culprit running from the location.

It begins to look more and more like the perpetrator must have had inside knowledge based on where and how the bombs were placed around the lab. Suddenly, Boris is becoming a more viable suspect, but so are others who initially were assumed to be completely innocent. With Aimée’s assistance, the team is able to apprehend those responsible for the 1986 bombings --- yet it seems they had nothing to do with these current acts of terror. The quandary for Aimée is how to unearth a murder suspect who may be directly under her nose before this individual strikes again or potentially silences her altogether.

MURDER AT THE PORTE DE VERSAILLES is incredible fun, and it is wonderful seeing Cara Black operating at the top of her game.