Murder Book

 By Thomas Perry

Mysterious Press             2023

399 pages     Thriller

When I began Murder Book, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. I knew Thomas Perry by name and reputation, but I didn’t know how propulsive his novels were. Once I got started, I couldn’t stop. That’s saying a lot about the book right there!

Harry Duncan is a Chicago-based private eye having had a long career as a police detective. His ex-wife and U.S. Attorney, Ellen Leicester, called to ask him to look into some crimes being committed in an area of small towns in Indiana. She is worried that these crimes are an aspect of a much larger organized crime  operation. Why in small town Indiana? It seems an anomaly until Harry puts an end to the work of low-life bad guys who are extorting protection money from property owners in Parkman’s Elbow, Indiana. He then realizes that the crimes he has canceled are just the beginning. His search for villains takes him back to Chicago and then back to the Ash River in Indiana, where the solution to the crimes presents itself.

 The title, Murder Book, comes from the diaries that Harry keeps for every crime that he works on and solves. He writes down each day’s activities and the ideas he has for what he should explore the next day. We are privy to his thoughts, but more specifically, the reader sees the entire crime through Harry’s eyes and his actions. In other words, the focus of Murder Book is entirely on Harry. There are several other interesting characters, including the US Attorney, Ellen, but all of the action revolves around Harry. This creates a propulsive rush all the way through the book that keeps the reader turning pages.

The solution as to why the Ash River area in Indiana is the scene of the crime comes from an unlikely source—sandhill cranes. When I looked up “sandhill cranes in Indiana,” I found that they come to an area called the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, which is near the small town of Medaryville, Indiana. I am sure that this is the area Thomas Perry had in mind as he was writing the book. Some scenes take place in Chicago, which is about 90 minutes away from Medaryville. I looked all this up because I thought that the only Midwest place sandhill cranes spent time was at the Bernard Baker Sanctuary north of Marshall, Michigan. ( I have actually visited that sanctuary and watched the sandhill cranes.) I agree, it’s kind of funky, but it is a very clever plot device and totally unexpected.

I had to laugh at myself as I was reading Murder Book. I went for a hike in a woodland area and plotted how I would sneak through the area without anyone seeing me. Harry Duncan does that a lot—parks totally out of site, creeps around the grounds, and “cases the joint” without anyone knowing he is there. I found myself being Harry.

Last night I began watching The Old Man on Amazon Prime. This is a TV series based on a novel by Thomas Perry. I could see that much of what moved The Old Man along is what I was admiring in Murder Book. The Wall Street Journal says that Perry writes thrillers that move “almost faster than a speeding bullet.” Real Book Spy review says that this thriller “proves yet again that he remains one of the strongest writers in the genre today.”

If you love private eye mysteries, you will learn a lot from reading Murder Book. I heartily recommend it.

 

Murder in Bel-Air

By Cara Black

Soho Crime         2019

312 pages     Thriller

Murder in Bel-Air is the first Aimée Leduc Private Investigator mystery I have read. This is book #19. How is it possible that I have never met her nor visited the Paris she investigates? I looked back and realized that the publisher had sent me an advanced reader’s copy of the 2016 book, Murder in the Marais, but I hadn’t taken the time to read it. Ah well!

It was fairly easy to get into Murder in Bel-Air; it is not one of those series that the author has to spend several chapters bringing the reader up to speed. Aimée Leduc is the owner of a detective agency in Paris, and the novel is set in 1999, when technology is seeping into the world of crime, as well as the world of private detectives. 

Aimée’s American mother is a thorn in her side. A supposedly retired CIA operative, Sydney doesn’t seem to be changing her ways. She was scheduled to pick up her baby granddaughter, Chloé, from her play group, when she disappeared once again. Aimée is called by the day care, and she must leave a technology meeting, where she is to deliver the keynote address, in order to pick up her daughter. Everything goes downhill from there. Sydney is missing, and is somehow connected with the body of a homeless woman from a nearby soup kitchen. As Aimée searches for her mother, she gets caught up investigating a potential coup in the Ivory Coast, a creepy Legionnaire, and a cadre of international spies.

All this happens as Aimée stylishly swishes her way around Paris—places I knew about, but many places I wish I knew about. She wears her vintage outfits as well as the stylish outfits of her best friend, and always has high heels or classy boots on her feet. Several times a day, she checks in on Chloé, who has a variety of babysitters, all the while keeping in constant contact with Rene and Saq, who run the Leduc Investigations agency.

Although there are some slow spots, as soon as Aimée figures out what is going on, things start to move fairly rapidly, and it becomes a very fun page turner. There is a great final confrontation and a fitting denouement.

I loved all the French phrases and Paris scenes. I knew very little about the history of the Ivory Coast and its fateful relationship to France, which is one of the subplots. I also really enjoyed seeing an extremely skillful author weave all of Paris into the plotline. It was a very enjoyable couple of days.  

Here is an interesting look at Cara Black and the Aimée Leduc franchise over the last 20 years. Murder in Bel-Air was released two weeks ago.