Recently I finished reading two mysteries that happened to take place in Paris. You probably wonder whether that was a coincidence. I did too; it certainly wasn’t intentional, but maybe it was my subconscious at work.

The covers of both novels are posted below at the end of this post. Here’s the executive summary of what we have:

• Murder in Bel-Air, the 19th novel in a long-running series by Cara Black. I think I’ve read almost all of the 19, though I can’t be sure. This is the kind of series where reading the books in order is helpful but definitely not necessary. It’s helpful because there is really a continuing narrative throughout the 19 books, with suitable character development; it’s not necessary because Black is always careful to remind you of anything relevant you might have missed — without hitting you over the head with it.
• Mastering the Art of French Murder, first in a new series by Colleen Cambridge. Perhaps the title is too subtle and fails to remind you of the much more famous book that the title is based on. After you’ve read the first two words of the story, you’ll understand: “Julia Child….” This is a historical mystery, taking place in Paris right after the end of World War II. Julia was really living there at the time portrayed in the novel — down to her actual address in Paris. Like most historical fiction, some characters and events are real, most aren’t.

So let’s tackle the two books one at a time. Murder in Bel-Air takes place in the 12^th arrondissement of Paris. (For those who don’t know, arrondissement is the French word for neighborhood, but Parisians number them rather than naming them. Bel-Air is a district within the 12^th. Districts, as you see, are named. Sorry for the digression, but it’s definitely worth knowing that each of Cara Black’s 20 novels focuses on a particular arrondissement, so if you read all 20 you’ll get a more-or-less complete travelog of Paris.) Anyhow, the protagonist, Aimée Leduc, runs a private detective agency focusing on security issues of all sorts. The series is pretty much a set of traditional PI stories with a definite Parisian twist. Character development is always well crafted throughout the series, but the principal appeal is the setting, the sense of place. Paris comes alive, especially the parts that we tourists never see. You won’t be surprised to hear that Black is one of my favorite authors — otherwise I wouldn’t keep reading 19 of her books!

Then we get to Mastering the Art of French Murder. As I wrote above, Julia Child figures fairly prominently, but she is not the protagonist. That’s Tabitha Knight, another American, temporarily in Paris because… well… because Paris. As you may know, Julia had a more conventional pair of reasons for being there: to learn the art of French cooking and because her husband Paul was assigned to work in Paris as a CIA agent. Actually, Julia was too, only it wasn’t yet the CIA, it was the OSS. So far the fiction corresponds to real life, but the expected murder doesn’t. This novel is definitely a cozy, so you automatically know at least four things: there will be a murder, there will otherwise be no overt violence unless it’s comfortably behind the scenes, the (very) amateur detective Tabitha will sometimes seem TSTL, and in general this story will have a much lighter feel than Murder in Bel-Air. You still get a sense of place and time, especially with the end of the then-recent German occupation, but I can’t imagine wanting to read it twice.

Cara Black, on the other hand, always writes novels that I could read again. Perhaps I should re-read all of them — in order — after I read #20.

Categories: Books