Murder in Clichy

Spirited Aimamp;eacute;e Leduc, a private investigator based in Paris, has been introduced to the Cao Dai temple by her partner, Renamp;eacute;, who urges her to learn to meditate as a counterbalance to her frenetic lifestyle. A Vietnamese nun asks her for a favor¿to hand over a check and bring a package back to the temple. But this act of kindness ends in a stranger¿s death and leaves her with a bullet wound in the arm, a check for 50,000 francs and a trove of ancient jade artifacts whose provenance is a mystery.

The French secret service, a group of veterans of the war in Indochina, some wealthy ex-colonials, and contending international oil companies all claim the jade. They will stop at nothing to gain possession of it. And the nun has disappeared. Aimamp;eacute;e has promised to avoid danger, but it continues to seek her out.