PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR SAM MARLOWE travels to Paris in search of the Modern world, a valuable object that may or may not have gone missing. On the Right Bank, the philosophical investigator Honoré de Balzac leads Sam through the French cultural experience of the last five centuries while instructing him on the art of becoming a raconteur, a teller of tales. Sam must then make sense of postmodern Paris, a confusing labyrinth devoid of the usual signposts that normally direct Western Civilization. On the Left Bank, he meets another philosophical investigator, Marcel Proust, who guides him along the corridors of existentialist thought while instructing him on the art of becoming a flâneur, a spectator of life. During his investigation Sam encounters numerous Francophile historians and philosophers, as well as many writers and characters of French literature. The story is much like the menu at a fine French restaurant, with the first-time guest longing to sample all the exquisite dishes before making a final choice. Fortunately, the diner can taste that very special dish on another visit to Café Philosophique. Bon Appétit!