A review by becca_sb1316
Murder in the Marais by Cara Black

2.0

What a disappointment! I had so hoped this series would be better, but the first installment has soured my desire to read any more. Aimee LeDuc is cliched, constructed more as a hapless American who happens to be living in Paris rather than a French-American Parisienne, borne and raised in France. She also isn't very smart and makes the same ridiculous mistakes over and over again, with no apparent growth. The mystery itself is thin, capitalizing on neo-Nazi resurgence that began in the 1990s and has only gotten worse, but without any insight or nuance. The plot is utterly predictable and at times absurd. Worse, the writing is appalling. Black relies on high-school level similes, and thinks she can create Paris just by dropping the names of famous areas and street names. While she includes some background on the Marais neighborhood, for instance, the former Jewish ghetto in Paris, she does little to makes this neighborhood come alive as it existed during WWII and then in the late 20th century. It's like Black is trying to write a typical American mystery novel, but thinks setting her novels in Paris automatically gives them a French flavor. Perhaps the series gets better in subsequent installments, but I'm just not willing to invest more of my precious reading time.