Casey Merkin is a fuck-up—he just doesn’t know it yet.

Washing up in Paris after a so-called divorce in L.A. (he was never actually married), Casey begins to question for the first time what the hell he’s doing with his life. Then he meets Elena, a beautiful Cuban who’s the woman he’s been looking for. Only problem? She’s married and has a kid.

Casey and Elena soon stumble headlong into an affair that takes them from a small bedroom on the north side of Paris to the dingy backstreets of Centro Habana. The more Elena’s marriage falls apart, the more Casey longs to break it. But first he must convince Elena that her daughter won’t get broken in the process …

Like a Nick Hornby cover of an Elvis Costello song, with Adelle Waldman on bass and David Sedaris on drums, The Crimes of Paris shatters many a romantic myth about the City of Light and the wishful thinking that love conquers all.