Rage
in Paris,
a first time novel by Paris-based American Kirby Williams,
throws us into a vibrant Paris of the mid-1930’s from
the point of view of a black expat private eye Urby Brown.
Having left the United States because of racial discrimination,
Urby struggles to be financially independent first as a musician,
then as a private eye. It is through these two professions
that we are introduced to a world of ordinary expat Black
Americans rarely described except for contemporary black celebrities
such as Josephine Baker.
Urby is hired to investigate the kidnapping of a wealthy American’s
daughter. Although ostensibly a detective story, we move about
Paris and Germany as Urby works to solve the kidnapping. It
is ultimately a journey for him to discover whom he can and
can't trust.
The Paris Williams describes is not quite the romantic Paris
often depicted in novels of that era - it’s February
and cold, dark and seething with intrigue. Williams provides
a lot of details on various Parisian venues that are somewhat
distracting and the book occasionally reads like a travel
log. However, Williams has also created a world of believable
characters a heady mix of struggling musicians, gangsters,
French Fascists, American expats and eccentric wealthy Yankees
tossed neatly together with French political tensions due
to the growing fascist movement.
I found it interesting that Williams chose this period and
not the post-WWII era. On one hand, Urby Brown left the US
in the early 1900’s for greater freedom but, as the
story ends, finds himself facing the verge of France’s
and Europe’s hellish descent into Nazi domination with
its oppressive racial policies. We readers know what Urby
does not – that these policies are a precursor to a
descent into hell for many races.
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