Cara Black's August Newsletter

Hope you’re having a wonderful summer. My friend Anne’s 14 year old daughter Gabrielle came to stay with us and brought a breath of Paris. I remember when she was born! I asked her opinion of our local bakery baguette and her opinion, as the true Parisian she is, was pronounced ‘bien’ but not a ‘baguette.’

I have this thing with doors, as do many of you!

The Book Passage mystery conference is my favorite weekend of the year. Tim Maleeny and I co-chair and the line up was stellar: mystery and thriller writers sharing our craft, judges, FBI, forensic pathologists, homicide detectives, cold case directors and all generous with their expertise to help writers hone, polish and get it right for their book. Here’s Ritu Mukerjee and Naomi Hirohara after our panel.

Here’s some of the Usual Suspects - I got to interview Michael Connelly - squeee - and Rick Jackson, working in the Cold Case unit, who has consulted with Michael on his books for aeons.

And the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley where Alka Joshi insisted she take a selfie of us - that’s sasha Vasilyuk whose book Your Presence is Mandatory was one of my favorite books this year!

Now to Boulogne Billancourt for a few scenes where Huguette takes place.

Below is the well and jewel of a courtyard, you can barely, see where Huguette goes.

If you join us for our April in Paris trip in 2026 you’ll get to visit this, too. And amazing locations in Boulogne Billancourt where parts of the story take place. Oh, did I mention visiting a ruined chateau once owned by the Rothschilds?

This year we had such a long wait list we did two groups! If you’re interested, please email Meg, my pal and organizer extraordinaire, at whalenmj55@gmail.com

Here’s the work in progress map of locations in Huguette for the book - I love maps, call me a mapaholic, and of course, we’ve got a map in every Aimée Leduc book.

Thank you for reading mes amies! Feel free to share and enjoy the rest of summer.

Cara