What is Cara Black reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Cara Black, author of Murder below Montparnasse.

Her entry begins:

I'm reading a galley of Phillip Kerr's upcoming A Man Without Breath. This is the latest in Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels - Bernie is a wise cracking former Berlin cop whose fortunes or lack of take him to Smolensk after the battle of Stalingrad in 1943 on a mission for Goebbels. Call me a fan: I've read all the Bernie Gunther novels and ordered this one via my local indie bookstore. But when the Galley Diva at my local offered me a chance to read this I panted yes, grabbed it and almost ran out of the store to read in my car. OK, I waited until I got home. So far it's...[read on]

About Murder below Montparnasse, from the publisher:

A long-lost Modigliani portrait, a grieving brother’s blood vendetta, a Soviet secret that’s been buried for 80 years—Parisian private investigator Aimée Leduc’s current case is her most exciting one yet.

When Aimée’s long-term partner and best friend Rene leaves their detective agency for a new job in Silicon Valley, Aimée knows she can handle the extra workload. At least, that what she tells herself. Repeatedly.

But all bets are off when Yuri Volodya, a mysterious old Russian man, hires Aimée to protect a painting. By the time she gets to his Montparnasse atelier, the precious painting has already been stolen, leaving Aimée smelling a rat. The next day, Yuri is found tortured to death in his kitchen. To top it all off, it looks like Aimée isn’t the only one looking for the painting. Some very dangerous people are threatening her and her coworkers, and witnesses are dropping like flies. Now Aimée has to find the painting, stop her attackers, and figure out what her long-missing mother, who is on Interpol’s most wanted list, has to do with all this—fingers crossed she wasn’t Yuri’s murderer, despite clues pointing in that direction.

Obviously, Rene doesn’t need to worry. Aimee has things under control.

Learn more about the book and author at Cara Black's website.

The Page 69 Test: Murder at the Lanterne Rouge.

My Book, the Movie: Murder at the Lanterne Rouge.

Writers Read: Cara Black (February 2012).

The Page 69 Test: Murder below Montparnasse.

Writers Read: Cara Black.

--Marshal Zeringue