Let me be honest with you: I have been to Paris many times, and every single trip has started with a very important reason. A champagne tour. Dinner at Coco. Shopping at Lacombe, or hunting down the perfect perfume in a tiny boutique near Saint-Germain. My favorite hotel in the world, La Maison Favart, always waiting for me like an old friend. And yes - I've walked the streets of Paris more times than I can count, researching every detail for my books, including I KNOW YOU KILLED YOUR HUSBAND, which is out this week.
But here's what I will also admit: the real reason I keep going back is the chocolate. And the cream puffs. And the hot cocoa. And the croissants. And the macarons. And just about everything else the city slides in front of you with that particularly Parisian sense of "well, of course."
On my Paris reader tours, one of the things I love most is introducing people to their first real Parisian sweet - watching someone take a bite of a proper choux pastry or taste their first sip of Angelina's hot cocoa and just stop walking. You can't help it. The city does that to you.
So, in honor of my new book hitting shelves - which, like me, has a complicated relationship with Paris - here are my absolute must-visit sweet spots.
Angelina - 1st Arrondissement · Rue de Rivoli
This is my number one, full stop. If you only do one hot chocolate in Paris - and I genuinely hope you do more - it has to be Angelina. The chocolat chaud here is thick, velvety, and so deeply rich you could almost eat it with a spoon. It has been made the same way since 1903, served in a little pitcher with a bowl of fresh whipped cream on the side, and it is absolutely irresistible. There's usually a queue, and it is entirely worth it. While you're there, order the Mont Blanc - a meringue and chestnut cream dessert that is the stuff of legend.
Must-try: The chocolat chaud l'Africain and a Mont Blanc. Non-negotiable.
Carette - 16th Arrondissement · Place du Trocadéro · Est. 1927
Carette has been a Paris institution since 1927, and its hot chocolate is something else. Not too thick, not too sweet, not too bitter - just perfectly balanced. Best of all, it sits right on the Place du Trocadéro, which means you're drinking your chocolat chaud with one of the best views: the Eiffel Tower. If you're heading to the Tower anyway - and you are - there is simply no excuse not to stop here first.
Must-try: Hot chocolate, a macaron or two, and linger as long as you can.
Café de Flore- 6th Arrondissement · Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Yes, it's touristy. Yes, you pay a little extra for the address. And yes, I go every single time I'm in Paris, and I would do it again without hesitation. There is something about sitting at a Café de Flore table - the same tables where Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre once argued over philosophy - and ordering a hot chocolate that is warm, frothy, and irresistible. It's part of the experience. Embrace it.
Must-try: Hot chocolate and a croissant. Sit outside if you can.
Debauve & Gallais - 6th Arrondissement · Rue des Saints-Pères · Est. 1800
I have a soft spot for this one partly because it sits so close to my favorite boutique hotel in Paris, La Maison Favart - which means I walk past it often and have absolutely zero willpower. This is one of the oldest chocolate houses in the world: the founder was the royal pharmacist to Louis XVI, and he created the first solid chocolates to help Marie-Antoinette take her medicine - coin-shaped discs she named "Pistoles" after gold coins. The shop on Rue des Saints-Pères is a classified French Historical Monument. The chocolates, particularly the Pistoles in their jewel-box packaging, make the most beautiful souvenir you'll find anywhere in the city.
Must-try: The Pistoles de Marie-Antoinette (try vanilla or almond milk) and the Croquamandes - dark chocolate caramelized almonds created for Napoleon.
À la Mère de Famille - 9th Arrondissement · Rue du Faubourg Montmartre · Est. 1761
This is a stop I always include on my Paris reader tours, and it never fails to delight people. The oldest confectionery and chocolate shop in Paris - founded in 1761 - is everything you'd hope for: old-fashioned glass jars of sweets, chocolates wrapped in paper, and that delicious smell of cocoa. The dark chocolate-coated oranges and ginger are nostalgic in the best way, and they have locations throughout the city, including one in Montmartre.
Must-try: Dark chocolate oranges, ginger chocolates, and whatever seasonal confection catches your eye.
Jean-Paul Hévin - Multiple locations · MOF 1986
A Meilleur Ouvrier de France - the closest thing France has to knighting someone for being extraordinary at their craft - Jean-Paul Hévin is simply one of the best chocolatiers in the world, and he happens to have eight shops in Paris. His chocolate truffles are exceptional, his pralines are stunning, and this is a must on any serious Paris sweet itinerary, and his Pleasure Boxes make for the most elegant gift you could bring home.
Must-try: Truffles, the cheese-ganache chocolates for the adventurous, and a macaron or two.
Alain Ducasse au Chocolat - Multiple locations across Paris
You can never go wrong with Alain Ducasse, and his approach to chocolate is no exception. The philosophy here is bean-to-bar and completely uncompromising - cocoa beans roasted in-house, every step controlled, every bar intentional. The discovery boxes are stunning, and the shop itself is a pleasure just to stand in. It's the kind of place where you go in for one thing and leave with considerably more.
Must-try: A discovery box and one of the single-origin chocolate bars.
Stohrer - 2nd Arrondissement · Rue Montorgueil · Est. 1730
This is another stop I bring my readers to without fail, and every single time someone tries the salted caramel éclair, they go very quiet for a moment and then say something like "oh, that's not fair." Stohrer is the oldest pâtisserie in Paris - founded in 1730 by the pastry chef to King Louis XV - and it is extraordinary. The interior alone, with its painted ceilings and gilded details, is worth the visit. But then there's the baba au rhum, which they invented. The puits d'amour, a crème brûlée pastry that is quietly one of the most perfect things I've ever eaten.
Must-try: Salted caramel éclair, puits d'amour, baba au rhum. Go back for the tarts.
Odette - 5th Arrondissement · Latin Quarter, Rue Galande
Nestled on a cobblestoned street in the Latin Quarter - steps from Notre-Dame and Shakespeare & Company - Odette does exactly one thing: cream puffs. Choux à la crème, in nine or so flavours depending on the day, stuffed with fillings from classic vanilla and chocolate to pistachio, praline, and green tea. There's seating upstairs if you climb the narrow staircase, which I always recommend. Sit by a window and watch Paris walk by.
Must-try: Chocolate, praline, or pistachio - and go upstairs to sit.
Vaudeville - 2nd Arrondissement · Near the Bourse
I have to include this one because the floating island here - île flottante - is one of the most beautiful desserts I've had in Paris, and I've had a lot of desserts in Paris. Vaudeville is a grand, art deco brasserie, all mirrored walls and old-school Parisian elegance, and it is the perfect place to end an evening. Their floating island is soft meringue floating in a silky crème anglaise, with just the right amount of caramel draped over the top. It's classic, it's perfect, and it's the kind of dessert that makes you feel like you understand Paris a little better than you did before.
Must-try: The île flottante. Order it. Don't question it. Thank me later.
I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't address the two other great Parisian sweet categories. For croissants, the name everyone should know is Du Pain et des Idées in the 10th - a gloriously beautiful old boulangerie where the croissants and pain des amis are exceptional. Get there early; they sell out.
For macarons, the debate in Paris is always Pierre Hermé vs. Ladurée - and I'll plant my flag firmly in the Pierre Hermé camp. His flavour combinations are genuinely inventive: the Ispahan (rose, lychee, raspberry) has a cult following for good reason, as does the Mogador (milk chocolate and passion fruit). Multiple locations across Paris mean you'll never be far from one. That said, a box of Ladurée in their pale green packaging is one of the most classically Parisian gifts you can bring home - and their seasonal flavours are always worth trying. Although, I will add, if you find a pattiserie that sells macarons, you ‘have’ to try one - you never know, it might end up being your favorite thing ever. There’s a cute little one beside La Maison Favart I always have to stop in and buy a box to nibble on!
Paris has a way of wrapping itself around you through exactly these moments - a warm cup of cocoa on a grey afternoon, a cream puff eaten standing on a cobblestone street, the ritual of choosing which chocolate to try first. When I write about Paris, these are the scenes I keep returning to. They're in my books because they're genuinely part of how I experience the city.
I KNOW YOU KILLED YOUR HUSBAND is full of Paris - its beauty, its secrets, its shadows. But underneath all of it, there's always a chocolate shop. There always is.
Happy reading - and if Paris is on your horizon, consider this your sweet map. You're going to be just fine.
Bon appétit - and bonne lecture.
Pick up I KNOW YOU KILLED YOUR HUSBAND and enjoy the read!
A completely gripping psychological thriller packed with suspense
As we toast our champagne, Lyndy leans over and whispers six little words that change everything: ‘I know you killed your husband.’
James and I were the perfect couple. He swept me off my feet, and after years of marriage, we still seemed totally in love. Then his sudden death destroyed everything. This girls’ trip to Paris with my best friends is my first chance to try and start again.
But at Lyndy’s words, my heart races in my chest. The police said my husband’s death was accidental. If Lyndy thinks I killed him… what else does she know?
I can’t believe my best friend would turn on me. After everything we’ve been through. Everything we covered up for her…
But the next morning, Lyndy is found dead in the hotel pool. And the letter shoved under the door to my suite makes my blood run cold:
Now you’re free, liar.
From New York Times bestselling author Steena Holmes, I Know You Killed Your Husband will keep you up all night reading! Perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Jeneva Rose and Gone Girl.
Thriller Domestic | Thriller Psychological [ Bookouture, On Sale: May 21, 2026, e-Book, / eISBN: 9781805504399 ]
Steena Holmes is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with more than 3 million copies sold worldwide. With 55+ psychological thrillers and suspense novels to her name, she is a prolific voices in the genre. Named in Good Housekeeping's Top 20 Women Authors to Read, Steena is also the creator of the Reader Tours — reader travel experiences in Paris, Italy, and beyond. She is a proud mom of three and a Gammy.
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