Amy Page, a middle-aged American widow and food columnist from Charleston, South Carolina, is in Paris to write a cookbook. Her lengthy stay in the City of Lights suddenly takes an unexpected turn when a cab driver is murdered in front of her building on the Ile St-Louis. Jean-Michel Jolivet, Inspector for the French Sûreté and Director of the International Bureau of Security, insists that Amy is essential to solving his ever-widening investigation that now involves several murders and an international plot. While interrogating Amy, Jolivet becomes increasingly annoyed with her incessant ramblings about cookbooks, cuisine, the Ile St-Louis, Paris, French history, culture, and architecture--distracting him from the investigation and from finding the killer. Much to Jolivet's surprise, he determines that Amy is much more complex than she seems and may possess an acute power of observation that is strong enough to assist him in his difficult homicide cases. Intrigue and desire may lead Amy and Jolivet to discover more than they bargained for in a passionate journey toward intimacy and joy on the enchanting Ile St-Louis.