Three Hours in Paris by Cara Black

In June of 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Hitler spent a total of three hours in the City of Light-abruptly leaving, never to return. To this day, no one knows why. 

In this intriguing and fast moving novel, author Cara Black proposes that a British agent attempts to assassinate Hitler. The assassination is foiled, the Fuhrer is rushed back to safety in Germany, and the assassin has to go on the run to avoid capture and death.

American Kate Rees, a champion marks-woman, is recruited by a little-known British spy agency to drop into Paris with the assignment to assassinate Hitler. Grief-stricken after a Luftwaffe bombing kills her husband and infant daughter, she accepts this impossible assignment, resolving to get revenge. With little training, she relies on instinct and her knowledge of pre-war Paris to keep from being captured. She faces one obstacle after another and when she finds she is alone without a way to escape, she begins to believe she had been set-up for failure. Her nemesis, German detective Günther, pursues her relentlessly, unraveling one mystery after another. The ending is surprising, and not disappointing.  

This is the story of two protagonists - one a young woman who is placed in a situation that calls upon more than her normal strength and capabilities, and the other a policeman who doggedly pursues her. The reader doesn't want to see her captured, but can't help but admire the tenaciousness and morality of the detective who tries to bring her to justice against the odds of a corrupt Nazi machine.

Cara Black brings to life Occupation-era France while also describing the color and atmosphere of Paris and its people. Her description of the setting and characters makes the story authentic and believable.