The Woman at la Gare de l'Est

It's Paris and it sizzles. Over four stifling August days Three women and a child are caught up in an international sting when the 4 1/2 year old refuses to let her nanny pack her Bugs Bunny suitcase for a weekend trip from Paris to Prague. At the Gare de l'Est a snatched purse and murder intervene. Upheaval follows, yet the women are slow to connect the events at the gare to two more murders, kidnap attempts, an actor gone missing, a ransacked apartment and a stolen suitcase. Only after a sexy Paris homicide detective alerts them that they've run afoul of an international art-theft ring does each come up with an answer to a piece of the puzzle, aided and abetted by the kid one cop calls the Eloise of Four-Year-old detectives.

   The novel is etched in the vibrant colors of Paris streets and neighborhoods from the Apple Store at the Louvre, to the Hotel de Ville merry-go-round, to the city morgue.