"How could she have been stupid enough to pursue this without backup?" So asks PI Aimée Leduc in the twentieth installment of Black's delightful, Paris-set series. Oh, but Aimée, we know the answer to that question as well as you do. You didn't have time to arrange backup because you're always running 15 minutes late. And we wouldn't have it any other way: if Aimée didn't live her life to the beat of an incessantly ticking clock, we wouldn't be able to watch Paris flash by as she careens about on her scooter or breaks one stiletto heel after another on those pesky Metro grates. That's the case here, of course, with Aimée's friend Boris in a coma after being injured in a bomb explosion at the police lab where he works. Found with plastic explosives under his nails, Boris stands accused of deploying the bomb. Set in November 2001, the story unwinds against the backdrop of 9/11 and, more personally, the question of whether Aimée should move to Brittany with her three-year-old daughter, Chloe, and her biological father. Forget it, Aimée: we want you in Paris, not clomping about a farm in Birkenstocks.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Black's series is at home on best-seller lists and has long been a particular favorite of librarians and library patrons.

In bestseller Black's riveting 20th Aimée Leduc investigation (after 2019's Murder in Bel-Air), tensions are high in Paris two months after 9/11. Still, life--including a birthday party for PI Aimée's three-year-old daughter, Chloé--goes on as usual, at least until an explosion at the nearby police laboratory. The horror of that bombing becomes personal as Boris Viard, a lab employee and Aimée's good friend, becomes a suspect when trace amounts of the explosive are found on him. Meeting resistance every step of the way from the police and Boris's coworkers, Aimée tries to determine whether the crime might involve one of the unsolved cases of her late detective father. As Aimée wends her way through the darker parts of the City of Light in search of a possible tie to an Iranian terrorist organization, she must also resolve where her relationship with Melac, Chloé's father, is headed just as another man reenters her life. Rich with detail about life in Paris, this entry illuminates the complications that friends and family can unwittingly create. Black shows no signs of losing steam. Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown. (Mar.)

November 2001 brings mixed feelings to Aimee Leduc. Her father died years ago, but the anniversary of his death is the same day as her daughter's birthday. This year, Chloe's third birthday party unites beloved friends until one of them, Boris Viard, remembers he left her present on his desk at the police lab. Boris doesn't return, Aimee receives a strange call from his phone, and she heads to the lab to find him. She discovers a scene of chaos. Just two months after 9/11, bombs have exploded at the lab, and the police suspect terrorism. Even worse, when traces of explosives are found under Boris's fingernails, they suspect him. As owner of Leduc Investigations, Aimee returns to field work to prove that her friend is innocent. After Chloe's father takes her to Brittany, Aimee is free to explore a complicated case involving multiple murders, the bombing, suspicious police activity, and, of course, possible terrorism. VERDICT Black's latest is a fast-paced, atmospheric mystery that brings back memories of worldwide fear after 9/11. It's best for fans of the series who will recognize the numerous characters and memories brought together in the 20th in the series (following Murder in Bel-Air).--Linda Gray

A bombing at a police lab has all Paris on edge. Birthdays should be happy. But the third birthday of private investigator Aimée Leduc's daughter, Chloé, brings as much anxiety as joy. First, Chloé's father, Melac, has become more of a presence in their lives since his recent divorce. His pleas that Aimée and Chloé would be much safer living at his farm in Brittany sends Aimée down a rabbit hole of second-guessing: She wants her daughter to be safe, but she wants to support her child financially, and that means staying in Paris, where she and her business partner, René Friant, run a successful investigation agency. Then disaster strikes at Chloé's party. Aimeé's good friend Boris realizes that he's left the toddler's gift on his desk at the police crime lab at Porte de Versailles. While he's retrieving the gift, the lab is bombed. Leaving Chloé with Melac, Aimée rushes to the lab only to find Boris has been taken to the hospital, unconscious. A note she finds shoved in her pocket claims, "WE HAVE STRUCK AGAIN." But who? Detective Loïc Bellan of the Groupe d'Intervention La Gendarmerie Nationale has his sights on Action Directe, a radical group from the 1960s. The police suspect Boris, who has Semtex explosive under his nails. But a teenage voyeur has a videotape of a shadowy figure leaving the lab just before the explosion. As days pass without an arrest, Aimée moves into action. Will she find the bombers before the police arrest Boris and before Melac decides that Paris is just too dangerous a place for his child? Black delivers again with a combination of political intrigue and tight detective thrills. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.