Rendezvous Eighteenth

Rendezvous Eighteenth marks the emergence of an exciting voice in crime fiction. Ricky Jenks gave up life in the U.S. years ago and is content, if not happy, with his life as a piano player in a small café in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris. He has many friends among the other African-Americans living in Paris and is happily, if casually, involved with a French Muslim woman.

But then everything changes. His American life comes crashing down on him when his estranged cousin wants help finding his runaway wife, whom he thinks might have come to Paris, even though he's vague about why. That same night Ricky finds a prostitute dead in his apartment building in Paris's Eighteenth Arrondissment, one of the most multicultural sections of Paris. That these two events could be connected is something he never imagines.

This intricate, absorbing thriller is ultimately much more than a suspense novel. Lamar's detailed and vibrant portrait of life in Paris is as much the story of a black man's alienation and redemption-indeed, the story of an entire community searching for a home-as it is a taut thriller about revenge, obsession, and murder.

Rendezvous Eighteenth marks the emergence of an exciting voice in crime fiction. Ricky Jenks gave up life in the U.S. years ago and is content, if not happy, with his life as a piano player in a small café in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris. He has many friends among the other African-Americans living in Paris and is happily, if casually, involved with a French Muslim woman.

But then everything changes. His American life comes crashing down on him when his estranged cousin wants help finding his runaway wife, whom he thinks might have come to Paris, even though he's vague about why. That same night Ricky finds a prostitute dead in his apartment building in Paris's Eighteenth Arrondissment, one of the most multicultural sections of Paris. That these two events could be connected is something he never imagines.

This intricate, absorbing thriller is ultimately much more than a suspense novel. Lamar's detailed and vibrant portrait of life in Paris is as much the story of a black man's alienation and redemption-indeed, the story of an entire community searching for a home-as it is a taut thriller about revenge, obsession, and murder.

Publishers Weekly

After the uneven If 6 Were 9 (2001), a blend of murder mystery and academic satire, Lamar makes a new start in the crime field with this well-constructed novel, set in Paris's 18th arrondisement between Montmartre and Pigalle with its whores, pimps and transvestites. Ricky Jenks, an African-American jazz pianist who plays in a cafe, is besotted with Fatimah Boukhari, a French Muslim who will love and marry only another Muslim. Ricky's troubles begin when his flashy and hated cousin, Cassius "Cash" Washington, arrives in Paris. A successful orthopedic surgeon who ran off with Ricky's bride the night before the wedding, Cash needs help in finding his current wife, Serena. Ricky reluctantly agrees to search for Serena, but he gets some confusing and inconsistent answers when he starts asking Serena's friends about her. When he finds the body of a prostitute in his apartment building's vestibule, Ricky becomes a suspect in her murder. The crime-solving, however, is incidental to the book's real strength, its characters. The author casts a tough, critical eye on his cast of mostly black middle-class expatriate Americans, whose interactions he so deftly depicts. Mystery fans may feel shortchanged, but mainstream readers fond of Paris should feel fully satisfied. (Nov. 24) FYI: Lamar is also the author of a memoir, Bourgeois Blues; a thriller, The Last Integrationist; and a mainstream novel, Close to the Bone. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Jake Lamar is the author of the acclaimed memoir Bourgeois Blues and three novels. Born and raised in the Bronx in New York City, he graduated from Harvard University and then spent six years writing for Time magazine. Ten years ago he went to Paris intending to stay for a year; he now lives there full-time with his wife.