Amid the dreary spring of Paris in 2012, our ruefully funny unnamed narrator—a gay New York City journalist who moved to Paris with his French boyfriend—finds himself dumped and put out on the street. Too proud to go back to New York (plus he sublet his place for a year), he resolves to stay in a city he finds glum and exasperating. Soon, he’s not only finding new roommates, but embarking on a passionate romance with Zizou, a young Algerian French server. But while reporting a story on cat burglars bedeviling rich Parisian apartments, he makes an error that indebts him to the sinister leader of a burglary ring.
A twisty and beguiling romp that deftly explores what it takes to overcome past hurt and fall recklessly in love—with a person, a city, or even with oneself—Cat Burglars of Paris is as suspenseful as it is charming, as poignant as it is fun.
Tim Murphy has been a journalist for more than thirty years, reporting on HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ issues, arts, pop culture, travel, and fashion for the New York Times, New York Magazine, Out Magazine, The Nation, and more. He is the author of the novel Christodora. He lives in Queens, New York.