Books: Barman to Barflies

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE—James Charters, as told to Morrill Cody— Furman ($3).

Ten to 15 years ago, in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, there were four persons known, by name at least, to the most assiduous tourist and most casual habitué. These were: Flossie Martin, plump, china-cheeked ex-show girl; Kiki, black-haired, impish French painters' model; Nina Hamnett, English painter and expert on sailors' chanteys; Jimmy Charters, ruddy-faced and unfailingly genial barman. The four were not friends, were in fact rather rivals, each ruling a separate coterie—the ladies at their tables at the...