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Murder on the Left Bank Left Me Breathless
Cara Black’s Book, Murder on the Left Bank Reading a Cara Black mystery is like a brisk jog. You trot alongside private investigator Aimée Leduc as she pieces together clues and sometimes runs for her life while solving a murder. Meanwhile, the sights and sounds of Paris go by: hot bread, honking horns, lovers in a park. It’s always a chic, action-filled journey and Black’s latest novel, Murder on the Left Bank, is no exception.
Book number 18 of the Aimée Leduc Investigation series focuses on the murder of a young man tasked with transporting a very desirable notebook. It contains decades worth of corrupted business deals. The information is so dangerous that a secret crime organization called The Hand is willing to kill people for it. It’s Aimée’s job to find the notebook and bring the killers to justice.
Savvy Writing Style
What’s so strong about this story, and most of Black’s work in general, is the author’s ability to bring Paris to life in a quick short hand while unspooling a fast-paced plot. We get brief notes on the history of fascinating Parisian institutions like the Gobelins tapestry workshop or the community pool at Butte-aux-Cailles. A compact paragraph deftly creates a character snapshot and occasional asides describe Aimée’s outward appearance and emotional interior. Having lived for a few months on the Left Bank, I have to say I did crave more words to draw me into that richly historic, vibrant area. I wanted to relish the setting. But Black expertly knows how to include just enough to hold a mystery/thriller reader’s attention. And after all, these are straight up mysteries, not literary explorations.
A Broad Cast of Characters
So how does this novel compare to the others in the series? I’d say it shares the same pace and love of arrondissement. But readers new to Cara Black may be confused by the numerous characters. Morbier, a police colleague of Aimée’s father makes an appearance, as do lawyer Éric Besson, her partner René, her mother, and others. If you haven’t read Black’s work before, your head may spin at the numerous people. But if you’re familiar with their histories as they relate to Aimée, you’ll enjoy the reuniting while appreciating the deeper meaning.
All in all, I enjoyed this latest addition to the Leduc series. And if you’re looking for a lively story that features a hip sleuth while spotlighting the hidden gems of Paris, you’ll like Murder on the Left Bank too.
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The Tense Theatre in The Witch Elm
The Witch Elm is an impressive novel. It’s a riotous exercise in prose and character and suspense whose ending literally left me breathless. But it has one flaw that has disappointed hardcore Tana French fans: a suspect as the narrator. I myself didn’t particularly mind but apparently most longtime fans did. They yearned for her usual complex detective protagonist while lighting up websites with irritated reviews. They were hoping for what they liked, a Dublin Murder Squad personality, and didn’t get it. I thought French’s approach was fresh and worked well, but I’m not a crime fiction aficionado. I’ll try to explain, without spoilers, why I think this energetic departure was ultimately a success.
Language on Fire
First, I read as a writer, I can’t help it. I’m watching for sweetly flowing phrases and I’m watching for odd adverbs and clunky sentences. So, French’s tight, tumbling prose blew me away. An electricity crackles through this story like a long spark of lightning. She weaves in obscure words, inventive descriptions, and verbs like “judder” into a narrator that’s so expertly rendered you forget he’s a fabricated person. The language pushed me through about 162 pages. Why 162? Well, that’s when the plot launched off a cliff.
A Creepy Premise
At this point in the novel (and this is on the jacket so it’s no surprise), two of the family’s grandchildren find a skull in the hollow of a tree in the back garden. Now, I haven’t read that many detective novels but I’ve read a bunch and I can’t recall another book where a body has been stuffed inside a tree. It’s inventive and unsettling. That French mentioned this scenario a long time ago in an utterly different context in In The Woods leads me to believe the image stayed with her for years. This book is the product of that idea unfurled and explored.
A Subtle Slow Plot
Some online reviewers have complained at the book’s slow-moving plot. I understand. I don’t care for literary writing where the paragraphs are as long as the page. But I can forgive it here because when the plot does kick in, it’s fascinating. After the kids find the skull, detectives show up of course and begin investigating. They swoop in and out as the family processes how in the world a dead body ended up in their tree. Many conversations occur among Toby the narrator, his girlfriend, his uncle Hugo, and his cousins. In long involved exchanges, they talk casually but what they say is loaded with meaning. I tried to decipher every word for a clue about who killed the person in the tree. The puzzle kept my interest.
Ultimately, the long stretches of dialogue mostly occur at Uncle Hugo’s place, Ivy House, which can arguably feel claustrophobic and painstaking. An online reviewer mentioned how the book felt like a One Act play. I can’t dispute that. It’s true.
Vivid Character Portraits
But within that framework, we learn many lurid details about Ivy House and Toby and his cousins. There are several suspects, all credible in their potential for murdering. French deep dives into each’s personality, masterfully leaving us with more questions than answers. Though Toby’s cousin Susanna seems like a responsible mother, she also went through a wild phase and is sharp-sighted. Toby’s other cousin Leon seems volatile and repressively angry but his lack of courage doesn’t fit in with an aggressor’s profile. Uncle Hugo seems just plainly reserved and guileless. We’re guessing until the end.
A Broader Readership
Until now, all of French’s Dublin Murder Squad novels have featured detective protagonists. This one is narrated by an easygoing young guy. The police are on the periphery as outsiders. So, unless you delight in this tricky family, you may not like the book. If you’re open to a crime fiction novel not narrated by a detective in the traditional way, you might like it.
My One Disappointment
The ending to this story is shocking and yet fitting. It’s hard to discuss without giving it away so I won’t go into detail. But I noticed that one of the characters, very similar in tone and style to a character in In the Woods, ends up with a depressing, ruined life. That, to me, was a bit of a predictable repeat. As I’m halfway through Faithful Place now, my third French book, I’m wondering if I’ll see that crutch again. It may make me step back from the novels. But for now, even though The Witch Elm’s conclusion is a bit unrealistically and unnecessarily dark, it’s a flaw I can forgive. The novel’s extraordinary construction of language and character created an intensely suspenseful story that I couldn’t wait to see resolved. I look forward to what Tana French will write next.
