The Aimee Leduc Companion

Grand-Véfour, Palais-Royal.
    20. Passage du Bourg-l’Abbé.
    21. On the runway with Michel, 38, Palais-Royal.
    22. [also see Cara’s Sentier Picks] Le Grand-Véfour, Palais-Royal.
    23. Passage du Bourg-l’Abbé.

Cara’s Sentier Picks:

    Restaurant Le Grand-Véfour:17, rue de Beaujolais (Palais-Royal), 75001 Paris. Perhaps the most beautiful of the gastronomic temples.
    Restaurant Le Grand-Colbert: 4, rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris. A fine, comfortable, old-fashioned restaurant.
    Restaurant Le Vaudeville: 29, rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris. Up the street from the Grand Colbert, and perhaps even livelier. Open late.
    Dehillerin: 18, rue Coquillière 75001 Paris: maybe the most famous kitchen-supply store in the world.
    A. Simon: 48, rue Montmartre 75002 Paris: Dehillerin’s competitor, and better for dining-room supplies.

Murder in the Bastille (October 1994)

    When Aimée Leduc spent a small fortune on a gorgeous black silk Chinese jacket, the boutique owner swore it was a one-of-a-kind piece. So she is not pleased when a woman wearing an identical jacket sits down at the table next at the fancy Bastille restaurant where she’s waiting for her client. But her luck is about to get even worse—as she leaves the restaurant, Aimée is walking through an ancient passage when she is attacked and almost killed. When she wakes up in the hospital, she is blind. Her optic nerve has been damaged, perhaps irreparably, when her assailant tried to strangle her.
    Blind, hospital bound, and all but helpless, Aimée has her confidence shaken yet again when she learns that a woman was murdered in the Bastille the same night Aimée was attacked—a woman wearing the same Chinese jacket as Aimée. Which woman was the true target, and which was a mistake? There is a serial killer loose in the area, but something tells Aimée there’s something bigger going on here. Most frustrating, no one wants to help Aimée get to the bottom of this: not the police, who are sure they’ve got the whole thing wrapped up already; not Morbier, her godfather and the Commissaire, who wants her to mind her own business; not Guy, Aimée’s sexy-sounding eye surgeon, who wants her to get rest. But how can Aimée solve the mystery that may save her life when she can’t even see??
    Characters

    Series characters whose info has changed since the previous book:
    Martine is now Vincent Csarda’s partner in a new magazine, Diva.
    Non-series characters appearing in this book:
    Alfort, Dr. (third number on Josiane’s speed dial)
    Barzac (drug dealer)
    Bellan, Sgt. Loïc (cop), wife Marie , daughters Danielle , Monique , son Guillaume w/Down syndrome
    Bidi (works for Tulles)
    Brault , architect (knew Josiane Dolet )
    Cavour, Mathieu (antique restorer)
    Chantal (volunteer at eye hospital)
    Clothilde (owner of bar-tabac)
    Csarda, Vincent ( Aimée’s client, ad agency head)
    Danoux, Madame (friend of Dr. Lambert’s )
    Dolet, Josiane (murderee)
    Ducasse, Alain (editor or something at Diva)
    Égérie, Lt. (cop)
    Iliescu, Dragos, aka Draz (Romanian goon)
    Inca (appears to be having affair w/ Csarda )
    Lambert, Guy (doctor at l’hôpital des Quinze-Vingts eye hospital)
    Larzan, Gaetan (rents props), fiancée Giselle , cousin Pierre
    Malraux (art appraiser)
    Martin (Aimée’s father’s informer, still in the business)
    Medou (“Monsieur Fix-It”)
    Miou-Miou (on Josiane’s speed dial, astrologer)
    Mondriac, Lulu (owner of store Blasphème)
    Morvan, Capt. (cop)
    Nico (tattoo artist)
    Nord, Officer (cop)
    Piot, Alex (locksmith)
    Passot, Lucas (blind resident of l’hôpital des Quinze-Vingts)
    Rajeev (programmer and computer shop owner)
    Ravic (metalworker)
    Rayman, Maurice (betrayed in Résistance in WWII)
    Rémouze, Yann (old man)
    Reyaud, Dr. (retinologist)
    Sarnac, Madame (derelict old woman)
    Schell, Roswitha (old woman looking for antique commode)
    Suzanne ( Cavour’s assistant)
    Sylvaine (nurse at l’hôpital des Quinze-Vingts)
    Toile, Mimi ( Aimée’s next-door neighbor at l’hôpital des Quinze-Vingts)
    Tulles (grocer)
    Vaduz, Patric or Patrick (alleged serial killer)
    Verges ( Vaduz’s lawyer)
    Yves (old boyfriend of Aimée’s, now a news bureau chief in Cairo)
    Yvon ( Cavour’s apprentice)
    ANIMALS
    Brutus (Piot’s dog)

    Bastille

    1. The restaurant at which it all starts. Probably Le Square Trousseau. If not, it should have been.
    2. Passage de la Boule blanche. No good deed goes unpunished.
    3. Hôpital Saint Antoine. First stop.
    4. Hôpital