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Cara Black
MURDER IN THE SENTIER
Soho Press
April 2002
"After completing Anthony Award-nominee Black's third Aimée Leduc mystery, those who
haven't read the first two in the series -Murder in Belleville and Murder in the Marais -
won't rest easy until they've devoured the earlier volumes as well. One of the best new
writers in the field today, Black sets her novels in a Paris so real one can hear and
smell the street." --Publisher's Weekly starred review.
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CaraBlack - hi I think it's me tonite
Casteel - Hi Cara
CaraBlack - hi...sorry if I'm early
Casteel - early is good
CaraBlack - umm am I in the right place for the writpers space chat at 6pm?
Mac - Howdy 
CaraBlack - hi all...you like mysteries...?
Mac - Can't say that I've read any...sorry 
Casteel - more into suspense
CaraBlack - mac...my mysteries are set in Paris..the different arrondissements
CaraBlack - casteel...they border on suspense
Sara - yes, welcome, Cara
Mac - I mainly just sit back and watch.....hoping to get some helpful hints to aid in my writing attempts.
Sara - early is fine, Cara
CaraBlack - hi Sara...am I in the right room?
Sara - apparently this is a big tv night (I don't watch tv so I am a bit out in the cold)
Sara - yes, Cara, the right room! You are doing well!
Mac - LOL...it's season finales for almost all the sitcoms.
Casteel - I am waiting for stella's workshop, sorry but I will be leaving in a few
CaraBlack - competition!
Sara - we still have fifteen minutes so you can just mill around if you want -- try out the icons, get accustomed to the feel
CaraBlack - come back if you can later...
Casteel - Cara, I write for Elloras Cave, E book
Sara - wonderful thing, I guess television
Casteel - will do
Mac - I only watch certain shows......Friends is one of them.
Casteel - Cara, before I go, do you have a website
Tidal - whats up!
Mac - Howdy, Tidal
Casteel - Hi Tidal
CaraBlack - www.carablack.com
Oliv - Hi ladies
Casteel - Oliv, Hi
Mac - And Oliv
Tidal - hey all
Casteel - Thanks Cara, will look it up later.
Tidal - 
Sara - hi, Tidal and Oliv -- sorry I missed you.
CaraBlack - casteel...gone?
Oliv -
Casteel - Tidal, have you been naughty, your halo is slipping
Mac - Hi, shey
Sara - hi, shey
Tidal - hey sara!
Tidal - oh..... It is?
shey - Hi everyone
Oliv - or
CaraBlack - hi shey...that you?
Mac - WB, Cara 
Tidal - hi shey
Cissy - Hi all
Mac - HI, Cissy
CaraBlack - so far this is the easiest chat to enter I've encountered...maybe I better keep the good luck going
Tidal - I know....
Sara - well, cool
Tidal - 
Sara - I am having finger problems tonight, so I hope you guys forgive any weird typing. I seem to be losing feeling. DRAT IT!! in my pinkie
CaraBlack - pinkie alert...sos
Sara - we have fun icons here ...
Cel - Hi everyone
Mac - Poor Sara, it'll be okay.
Tidal - same here my pinkies losing it...
Sara -  ing 
Tidal - 
Mac -  
Tidal - 
Sara - yes, I know. I just lifted a few weights to try to relax. I think I am just tired
Oliv - lol
Sara - we become child like in telling stories, I am afraid, Cara 
Tidal - hah haahah
CaraBlack - love tidal's icon!
Tidal - 
CaraBlack - that's me ..today
Tidal - lol
Tidal - hurts don't it?
CaraBlack - big bruises on forehead attest to that
Tidal - lol
Sara - now, computers are our friend. Repeat often
Tidal - 
Sara - otherwise they (computers) get very upset
Sara - and do mean things
Sara - like die before they save work
writerbabe - Hi, Cara --
Sara - very very irritating!
Sara - hi, writerbabe
CaraBlack - hi writerbabe...good day?
Tidal - not me this thing hates me I'll be suprisesed if it dosn't shutt down all by itsef
CaraBlack - computer behaviing?
writerbabe - Hi, guys -- cara -- we just talked on the phone -- it's Jean
Mac - Hi, writerbabe
Tidal - hey writerbabe
Tidal - yep
CaraBlack - ah my friend jean...I thought you were shey...
writerbabe - I haven't done the chat thing in ages....
CaraBlack - that's writerbabe's cat...shey
Tidal - 
Sara - ah!! okay. makes sense
Tidal - 
Sara - well, we will be gentle, Jean. Honest!
CaraBlack - tidal....coool!
writerbabe - One of the late lamented ones...
Tidal -
CaraBlack - but here in spirit!!
Tidal - yep
Sara - I will give stranglers another minute to arrive -- then we will get started. Cara, you have an introduction ready for us?
Oliv - Are you a virgin author Cara
Mac - 
writerbabe - I think so -- and Martha just had another tortie cat just for us...
Sara - hi, Caffey
CaraBlack - uhhhh like about my books?
Caffey - Hi Sara
CaraBlack - oliv this is my third
Sara - an intro about you and your books and Aimée Leduc perhaps
Tidal - cara's an athor right I've seen your name 5 times already
writerbabe - All of them great!
Cel - yes Tidal, Cara is an a
Cel - an author and on the *hot seat* with us
Sara - okay, let's rip!!
Tidal - oh....... okay that why this is a fan chat right then ill try to fit in *faint*
Sara - welcome everyone!!! our guest tonight is Cara Black -- author of the Aimée Leduc mysteries. We are on protocol, so type a  to be put in the queue. I will call on you in turn. Thank you!
Oliv - ?
Sara - But before we get started with questions, I would like Cara to tell us about herself and her mysteries.
Cel -
CaraBlack - Hi I’m Cara Black author of the Aimée Leduc investigations, I live in San Francisco, my husband is a bookseller and my son plays basketball.I began the series by chance after my friend in Paris told me about her mother’s experience during the German Occu
CaraBlack - German Occupation of ParisMurder in the Sentier, the third Aimée Leduc investigation and most recent,
Tidal - ????????????!
CaraBlack - is set in the historic Sentier...home of dilapidated mansions housing dotcoms,sweatshops of the wholesale rag trade and the flesh trade by night. Aimée searches for clues to her long missing American mother...was she part of a 70’s terrorist Red Brigade?
Sara - wow, so these books are all set during WWII?
Sara - no, obviously not
CaraBlack - nope thats just the bkgd
CaraBlack - Murder in Belleville...tensions run high in this working class neighborhood, once home to Edith Piaf, among Algerian immigrants on a hunger strike. Aimée’s pulled into helping her friend a ministers wife when his supposed mistress gets blown up in a car b
Cel - lol Sara
CaraBlack - Murder in the Marais...tells how Aimée Leduc, the intrepid young French-American detective, is hired to investigate the grisly murder of an old Jewish woman in the Marais section of Paris. Her undercover search leads to a neo-Nazi group and requires that
Sara - I lived in Germany during the Red Brigade time.
CaraBlack - in the Marais section of Paris. Her undercover search leads to a neo-Nazi group and requires that she play a dangerous game involving current politics and old war crimes...an eerie foreshadowing of the current French election!
StCirq - HI, Cara
Tidal - don't tell us the whole book!
CaraBlack - wow sara...that's what murder in the sentier about
CaraBlack - hi St Cirq
Tidal - I mean *faint*
Sara - welcome, StCirq
StCirq - Thanks, Sara
CaraBlack - maybe I got it goofy but those were little snippets of the three books in the serew
Sara - it was an interesting time! and I was in my early 20s
Cel - Tidal, I think Cara is giving us a little snippet of each book in the sereis
CaraBlack - Baader Meinhof/
Sara - well, I am intrigued! I love Paris btw
CaraBlack - cel...trying!
Tidal - they're that long.
CaraBlack - I set the stories in different arrondissements of Paris
Cel - you are doing just fine, Cara
Sara - yup, baeder mainhof and one of the apartments in our building was raided looking for them
Mac - I lost the page
Tidal - ?????
CaraBlack - Tidal...more like 300 plus
StCirq - Have you considered going outside Paris?
CaraBlack - pages...glad St Cirq is here...are u in France right now?
Sara - wow, this sounds like a great series of mysteries
Sara - let's get to the questions. Ready, Cara?
Sara - Oliv has the first question (Cel, Tidal in line)
CaraBlack - St Cirq..definitley...but my editor likes me in Paris...
StCirq - No, Cara, I'm between visits. I return June 7 and it won't be soon enough.
Tidal - *gulp*
CaraBlack - says 3 down...17 arrondissements to go
CaraBlack - sure
StCirq - I can see why, but eventually you'll maybe need to broaden the scope, no?
Sara - now, I was going to ask that, Cara!! What will you do when you run out of arrondissements!!!
StCirq - Surely there are some arrondissements that can be left out?
CaraBlack - hmmm...countryside...I guess
CaraBlack - yes, I'm very picky and like only certain quartiers
writerbabe - Underground, perhaps?
Oliv - What inspired you to write in the first place
Tidal - hey gerri
CaraBlack - oliv...my friend told me the story of her mother's experience during the war and German occupationof paris
writerbabe - ?
CaraBlack - so I researched and found incredible things
gerri - Hi everyone
StCirq - But of course. Have you read this new novel called Caves of Perigord? I read it with great interest (of course) but was very disappointed in the end.
CaraBlack - hi gerri/
Tidal - /
Sara - hi, gerri
Tidal - ?
CaraBlack - nope...a suspense story?
StCirq - It ticked me off that the guy got basic geography wrong, among other things.
Sara - Cel has the next question (Tidal, writerbabe in line)
CaraBlack - shooot.
Sara - welcome to those joining us, our guest tonight is Cara Black -- author of the Aimée Leduc mysteries. We are on protocol, so type a to be put in the queue. I will call on you in turn. Thank you!
CaraBlack - sounds appropriate for a murder eh
StCirq - My neighbors in St-Cirq lived through incredible times during the Occupation - the stories they have to tell are arresting.
Cel - I'm confused (which is not unusual for me) but what time (year, etc) do these books take place and I must be very ignorant because I don't have a clue what "arrondissements" means.
CaraBlack - Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements or neighborhoods
CaraBlack - the books start in Nov 1993, then April 1994 and oct 1994
gerri - thank you cel..either do I....
Tidal - oh.....
Cel - thank youk Cara 
CaraBlack - sure...I had to learn that too...and each arr is composed of quartiers
Sara - ah, see, we get to learn things!
StCirq - Well, there are murders in the story, but they are part of the scenario of the Occupation. He weaves three stories together, a technique I don't like, where he roams 1, 2, 3 among three different threads and tries to tie them all together at the end. Inevitably, one gets bored with one of the threads and stops reading it.
Cynomin - Hello Room
Sara - this was set up by Napoleon wasn't it? when they built the boulevards?
CaraBlack - and each arron has its own commissariat...police hq
Cel - Hi Cynomin
CaraBlack - St Cirq...the cave book you mean?
gerri - Hi cynomin
Cynomin - Hello Cel
Cynomin - Hi there Gerri, long time no see
StCirq - Yes, the novel about the Resistance and the cave people
Sara - Cynomin, our guest tonight is Cara Black -- author of the Aimée Leduc mysteries. We are on protocol, so type a to be put in the queue. I will call on you in turn. Thank you!
CaraBlack - hi cynomin
Sara - Tidal has the next question (writerbabe, MaryJane in line)
Cel - I hope there is some type of glossary in these books so we would know what the heck some of the words mean
Cynomin - Thanks Sara! Hi Cara, nice to "meet you"
Tidal - how did you get enogh info to write a book?(300 pages long) with somthing your friend told you? I mean I tring to do reasherch for my book and i get no where...
CaraBlack - cel...I hope when you read you understand most people do in context
Cel - oh cool, Cara, and I do enjoy a good mystery
CaraBlack - tidal...I've written three books with multiple points of view and story lines
Tidal - oh....
CaraBlack - I write about early 90's france...relatively current so it's not hard to reseeardh
CaraBlack - and the war, the Algerian conflict and 70s have lots of info
CaraBlack - a freshman at Hofstra univ just email and told me his prof used murder in Belleville for a class on Race, Sex and Identity in Current France...a textbook!
Sara - they were a LIVELY time ... although the 70s were fun too! All those protests, terrorists, student things
StCirq - Research these days is not hard - if you can't find it through Google, you can find it from friends and contacts, the old-fashioned way. You just have to be a detail-oriented person who takes good notes.
Tidal - 
CaraBlack - Sara do you remember the Baader meinhof? they stole BMW as getaway
Sara - writerbabe has the next question (MaryJane in line)
StCirq - A textbook? Cool! Maybe the university sales will multiply!
CaraBlack - tidal...sad?
writerbabe - Where did Amiee come from in your head -- any part of you in her?
Sara - yes, I do. I lived in Nelligen outside of Stuttgart
CaraBlack - a bizarre textbook but happy for that
CaraBlack - Aimée is half french half american and is an outsider looking inon french society
StCirq - Ishould think so, Cara. Why not?
Tidal - no clueless I have no Idea of the subjest
CaraBlack - I could relate to that...beign in France and not speaking good french or tying my scarf the right way!
StCirq - How did you market your first book?
Sara - GASP, Cara!! The scarf!! Yes, you MUST know how to do it!
CaraBlack - lots of conflict in France now Tidal...
Sara - writerbabe has the next question (MaryJane in line)
CaraBlack - and Sara...alors! it's genetic!
writerbabe - but how did you come up with Aimee
CaraBlack - she stepped inwith a leather jacket, dog under her arm and a wonderful apt that I want to live in///woila
CaraBlack - voila.
writerbabe - Ah, yes -- MilesDavis the dog
CaraBlack - she lives on ile st louis...and when i die i want to live in her place
Sara - I worked for the PX (post exchange system) we had lots of nationals working there, and I always admired the French women. SO pulled together. I had two friends try their hardest to get me to do the scarf bit. But I am afraid I never got it!
Tidal - I have to go bye cara and all
CaraBlack - pronounce 'meelz daveez'
CaraBlack - good luck on writing Tidal
StCirq - A question was posed on my Francophile Forum a couple of days ago about the oldest house in Paris. I thought it was a house in the Marais, from Reading "A Corner in the Marais." Do you happen to know the answer?
CaraBlack - love his icons
Sara - oh, wow. That is a nice part of town
CaraBlack - Nicolas Flamels house..yes in the Marais
Sara - so, she just popped up for you, did she?
CaraBlack - the Marais is wonderful
StCirq - That's what I thought...thanks!
CaraBlack - well Sara she's grown...each book hopefully you learn more about her
Sara - MaryJane has the next question (no one in line)
CaraBlack - hopefully my writings improving and I'm more confident to dea with her
StCirq - Yes, the Marias is a very chic neighborhood these days, not like when I first went to Paris.
CaraBlack - how many years ago was that?
MaryJane - Hi, Cara. I love France too and mysteries are fun as well. Nothing like clearing the palate. But you said your French is not too good? Do you go to Paris to do your research? Sounds like it would be a great research trip or trips
StCirq - The first time I went to Paris? 1975, maybe 1974. I'm too old to remember.
CaraBlack - yes Mary Jan I go to Paris to research as much as possible...my french is in a get by mode
CaraBlack - no abstract ideas or philosophic discussions for me
CaraBlack - lol...
MaryJane - ah, so you miss all the conversations in the cafes?
MaryJane - do you have friends that translate? I love to listen in on others conversations.
CaraBlack - research in paris can be on the back of a bus, taking the wrong metro or getting lost which I often do and have the best adeventur
Sara - the metro is confusing.
CaraBlack - Mary Jane...only when I ply my detectives with wine at dinner !
MaryJane - that might work -- the wine
CaraBlack - I know several PI's...women and a man who I meet
Oliv -
Sara - ah, Cara. That sounds like a good idea! Reward them!
CaraBlack - some police who like to tell me tidbits
CaraBlack - yes. and at the headquarters they took me to lunch...a cop lunch and wonderful food
CaraBlack - flics with full bellies and wine...generous
Sara - to follow up on MJ, is it easier now with the internet to get contacts? We have a couple of chatters who log on from France
Oliv - Was your husband Jealson
CaraBlack - Sara...yes, it's good to keep in touch and find info too.
CaraBlack - Oliv...he doesn't know does he?
Oliv - he does notw
Sara - hmm, Cara. He doesn't go along, eh?
StCirq - You actually dine with les flics?
Sara - Oliv has the next question (writerbabe in line)
CaraBlack - has a bookstore to run!
Oliv - Are you dong a booksigning tour and coming to Rhode Island
CaraBlack - thanks for asking...yes I've toured in LA, Seattle and here...go to Chicago NY etc after May 27...but not to RI sorry to say
Sara - yes, he needs to be busy, Cara! Selling books
CaraBlack - you can see schedule on www.carablack.com
StCirq - When will you next be back in France, and are you planning a fourth book?
Sara - Writerbabe has the next question
writerbabe - Your first book was nominated for two awards? 
Sara - ah, do tell us!! what awards??!?!?!
CaraBlack - I have a signing in Paris onJune 29th at Brentano's an english bookstore in Paris...then a month doing reserach
spin - hi ladies
Sara - spin, our guest tonight is Cara Black -- author of the Aimée Leduc mysteries. We are on protocol, so type a to be put in the queue. I will call on you in turn. Thank you!
CaraBlack - the 4th book Murder in the Bastille comes out April 2003
gerri - Hi spin
CaraBlack - Sara Murder in the Marais was nominated for an Anthony and Macavity as best first novel
CaraBlack - I'm doing the edits on the manuscript right now!
StCirq - Wow!
Sara - way to go!!!  Cara!!
CaraBlack - thanks, Sara...no rest for the wicked I guess
spin1 -  stupid machine
Sara - I guess not!!
CaraBlack - for the next one...hey, I'm open to any stories about paris...!
spin1 - grrrrrrrr
writerbabe - ?
Sara - but think of the wicked fun we get in reading the result of your toil
Sara - writerbabe has the next question
Sara - ?
writerbabe - What about Murder in the Sentier? Have you gotten to be a computer wizard, yet?
StCirq - I don't want to ask imprudent, or even impudent, questions, but what can one expect from publishers in terms of payment for such a book? You know, Cara, that I have most of the material for my own book gathered together and ready for editing, and I don't need to depend on the book for income, but I also have no idea what writers make for writing a book. Of course it depends on the reviews and the contract you sign, and all that, but what's a ballpark figure for a first book and subsequent ones? And how much does it depend on the publisher you go with?
CaraBlack - i think we have a lot of writers here yes?
CaraBlack - writerbabe...I learn from the experts
Sara - not really, most of us are readers
CaraBlack - readers...good!
writerbabe - yes, one here...
CaraBlack - St cirq...it's all different...depends onthe genre
Sara - it is usually a mixed bag, mostly readers though primarily
CaraBlack - non-fiction is the most lucrative, so I've heard
Sara - Sara has the next question
Sara - you say you are looking for ideas for your next book (or similar) so, this question is about how you write...
Sara - do you get bits and pieces of ideas and then flesh them out?
CaraBlack - k...
Sara - like you read something or your friend's relatives' story and then it goes from there?
StCirq - Non-fiction is t he most lucrative, really? I guess that says something about American readerships. Still, I'd like some vague idea before I kill myself getting 300 pages of text together to send to some agent, only to be told I'll mke $24.95
Sara - hi, Jeff, our guest tonight is Cara Black -- author of the Aimée Leduc mysteries. We are on protocol, so type a to be put in the queue. I will call on you in turn. Thank you!
CaraBlack - yes...I write things down...odd fragments or observations and then the character comes or I meet somone who had a interesting life
Sara - StCirq, you can find that out by joining a writers organization. I am not sure this is the place to ask that question
CaraBlack - I met a man who works in the Ministry of Interior...very intense, intelligent and wacko onpills..he was so great I used his story
Sara - do you make up stories in your head about people you meet? (I do and I don't write fiction)
CaraBlack - He went to the exclusive french schools, and was tormented because he was responsible for kicking immigrants on a hugner strike
CaraBlack - out of a church yet he was born in a deportation camp after the war
StCirq - If you want stories about Paris, let me know, I should have plenty after 25 years of roaming arrondissements 1-20. Was it you or someone else who e-mailed me about what Parisian mailboxes looked like? That was a fun thing to answer.
CaraBlack - Parisian mailboxes...the ones in the apt's?
Sara - hmm, which book did you plop him into? I obviously have to track these books down! I hate that  buying more books
CaraBlack - yes, I make things up a lot
writerbabe - yes, one here...
CaraBlack - Sara Murder in Belleville...he called me today from Paris...drugged out...so sad, he's brilliatn
Sara - and I will assume that Aimee is a kick ass heroine type
StCirq - Sara: I belong to scads of writers' orgaizations and none of them ever gives you the lowdown on what you might expect to be paid for a book. I just thought Cara, who's someone who presumably has been paid, might know. If it's classified info, I'm OK with that, was just curious.
Sara - I mean, she has the mile davis dog tucked under her arm!
CaraBlack - a legal genius of the french court
CaraBlack - kick ass BIG TIME WITH THOSE STILLETO BOOTS1
writerbabe - Don 't forget rene!
Sara - well, StCirq. I know that RWA (the romane authors org) has the information on advances and what houses pay. that is why I suggest you go to them.
CaraBlack - everyone inParis has stories, so do the buildings dating fromt he 12th century
Sara - Is there any kind of relationship in these books (besides with miles davis?)
CaraBlack - and everyone over 59 or so lived through the war...
StCirq - Thanks, Sara, I appreciate it.
CaraBlack - yes, her partner Rene Friant is a dwarf and computer genius. Commissaire Morbier is her godfather
CaraBlack - her relationshiops with them and others continue
Sara - I think I missed this, but is Aimee a PI?
CaraBlack - Morbiers approaching retirement, has a grandson, René has health issues and gets ticked off with her sometimes
CaraBlack - Yes, she's a licensed PI and worked with her father in Leduc Detective on criminal cases (he was a cop) until he diead in a terrorist explosion
CaraBlack - and she turned Leduc Detecive to computer/corporate security
StCirq - What readership in America are you writing for? I'm curious, because it seems your specialty would appeal in general only to a very small slice of the pie.
CaraBlack - but she's always pulled back into crimiman
Sara - ah, and she is half american?
CaraBlack - yes, half french and half american her mother was american who left when she was eight...murder in the sentier explores that more
Sara - so that has to be difficult. When I lived in Europe we were not loved!
CaraBlack - My readership is varied...mystery readers, francophiles and people who like europe or to read about foreign settings
Sara - I think that your books would appeal to a nice spectrum of readers in the US. Why is it assumed we only read about the US?
CaraBlack - often the books are in the main new fcition section...not just mystery
Sara - Cara, believe it or not, but our hour has flown by. We like to give our authors a graceful exit after 60 minutes. You are welcome to stay and chat. But ...
CaraBlack - yes, that's a surprise to see it in new ficiton releases in Borders or B and N
Sara - before I close the "official" part. Can you remind us once more about your current books available?
CaraBlack - Thanks Sara...you're great
CaraBlack - Sure Murder in the Sentier was just reviewed by NY times and is out,
StCirq - I certainly don't assume we read only about the US, quite the contrary, but I was wondering who bought these books
CaraBlack - in hardcover, Murder in Belleville and Murder inthe Marais are in trade papaer
CaraBlack - all are available and you can start with any of them
StCirq - Bye, everyone....
Sara - and Aimee is kick ass in stilletto heels! Way to go!!
writerbabe - I stick her books in the travel section!! 
Sara - ooh, writerbabe!! that is a good place LOL
CaraBlack - thanks for coming St Cirq
CaraBlack - sure...that's good
Sara - Cara, you have been fun to have here! We always like to find more authors and books to read. Expanding horizens is a good thing!
CaraBlack - thanks for having me Sara...
Sara - so come back!!
CaraBlack - tell your friends it's a cheap tirp to Paris
CaraBlack - trip
Sara - yup, that works!
CaraBlack - thanks to everyone for coming too
Cel - thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Cara
MaryJane - thank you, Cara. sounds like a good series
MaryJane - nigth all
CaraBlack - bye Cel, MaryJane...my pleasure
Cel - Night Cara
CaraBlack - good reading...
writerbabe - Bye, Cara
CaraBlack - I'll say adieu again and thanks to all!!
Sara - Cara, contact me in the spring about stopping back! and hope you let TheBestReviews review your book!
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