Steve and Mie are a pair of globetrotting journalists. One of their pastimes, on their “bistro nights” in Paris, is making up fanciful stories about the strangers upon whom they spy at nearby tables.

Then, one summer evening, when Steve and Mie start spinning yarns about a beautiful waitress and a lonely American who drinks too much, they end up snooping into a pair of tempestuous love triangles.

The American is Cavendish, a down-and-out novelist who’s falling in love with Mireille, the waitress. But Mireille loves Serge, a dangerous, exciting and jealous ex-convict. One night, after spying on Mireille and Serge, Cavendish has an inspiration—a novel, set in Paris’s criminal underworld at the turn of the 20th century. He calls it Apache Dance.

Cavendish’s heroine is a tragic cabaret singer, Fifine. Her lover is Nicolas, brutal leader of an “apache” gang. The third point in Cavendish’s passionate triangle is the meek Maxim, who loves Fifine from afar—too far— but too close to the dangerous Nick.

The contemporary drama of Cavendish, Mireille and Serge courses through an intimate tour of Parisian nightlife, from the rustic bistro, Le Petit St.-Benoit, to the famous Rosebud Bar. Apache Dance, the novel-within-the-novel, unveils vividly the spectacle and squalor of a bygone Parisian demimonde.

In Apache Dance, Nick holds Fifine in his thrall. Maxim prepares a desperate measure to save the woman he loves. But then, before Maxim can act, Nick and his gang pull off a gruesome carjacking that launches a police dragnet. Nick is forced into hiding long enough for Fifine to escape. Or does she?

As the characters in Apache Dance meet their destiny, the reader can only guess whether a similar fate awaits Cavendish, Mireille and the lurking, vengeful Serge.

Meanwhile, Steve and Mie, who started out as mere voyeurs, find themselves drawn irresistibly toward the heat, lust, grace and danger of la danse apache.

AWARDS: Shelf Unbound Best Indie Books Notable 100, Literary Fiction, 2023. Independent Press Awards, Distinguished Favorite, Romantic Suspense, 2024.