Death in the Dordogne: Police chief Bruno's first murder case (The Dordogne Mysteries) - Softcover

Walker, Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784299405 ISBN 13: 9781784299408

Publisher: Quercus, 2016

EU inspectors are causing havoc in St Denis and local tempers are running high, but is it really cause for murder? The first acclaimed and internationally bestselling case for Bruno, Chief of Police.

'Hugely enjoyable and absolutely gripping. Martin Walker has got off to a flying start in what promises to be a great series. Bruno will be the Maigret of the Dordogne' Antony Beevor

Market day in the ancient town of St Denis in south-west France. EU hygiene inspectors have been swooping on France's markets, while the locals hide contraband cheese in their houses and call the Brussels bureaucrats 'Gestapo'. Police Captain Bruno Courreges supports their resistance. Although, here in what was once Vichy France, words like 'Gestapo' and 'resistance' still carry a profound resonance.

When an old man, head of an immigrant North African family, is found murdered, suspicion falls on the son of the local doctor, found in flagrante playing sex games surrounded by Nazi paraphernalia.

But Bruno isn't convinced, and suspects this crime may have its roots in that most tortured period of recent French history - the Second World War, a time of terror and betrayal that set brother against brother. Now it's up to him to find the killer - but will the people of St Denis allow him to go digging through the past in order to do it?

Review:

If a publisher is particularly celebrated for finding really cherishable novels and authors, attention must be paid. So, when the publisher Quercus (for instance) comes up with something new, those in the know are aware that it's usually something special. Is that the case with Martin Walker’s Bruno, Chief of Police?

Martin Walker has a solid journalistic background, and is the author of several acclaimed work of non-fiction, including The Cold War: A History, along with a historical novel,The Caves of Périgord -- but none of this is necessarily a copper-bottomed guarantee of success in the crime fiction genre. Fortunately, Bruno, Chief of Police turns out to be a quietly assured piece of work, full of quirky touches and characterised with real exuberance.

The eponymous Captain Bruno Courrèges is in charge of a modest force in the town of St Debis in the Périgord region of France (allowing Walker, of course, to utilises things he’d gleaned for his previous novel set in the region), and Bruno is not your typical hard-hitting copper: he never carries the gun he owns, and barely needs to arrest people. But suddenly all is turmoil in the town as inspectors from Brussels swoop on the rural market, making many enemies. Bruno is worried by the fact that this phenomenon is invoking memories of the town's ignoble Vichy France past. Then an old man from a North African immigrant family is murdered...

This is quirkily inventive stuff, and Walker‘s Bruno has all the auguries of the becoming a crime fiction favourite. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

Hugely enjoyable and absolutely gripping. Martin Walker has got off to a flying start in what promises to be a great series. Bruno will be the Maigret of the Dordogne (Antony Beevor)

It's beguiling, evocative and utterly wonderful. it also made me very hungry . . . the Alexander McCall Smith of La France Profonde (Francis Wheen)

The selling point of this delightful book is its setting in the legendary France profonde . . . Walker brings to life both a complete community and the chief of police who is its protector, teacher and friend. This book's ingredients are combined as carefully as Bruno's good meals (Literary Review)

Has many of the characteristics of Golden Age novels, above all the apparently remote setting which reveals its involvement in wider events. Martin Walker's Dordogne is worth a visit (Times Literary Supplement)

The pleasures of life in the Dordogne, some distinctive well-rounded characters and an intriguing mystery are a winning combination . . . one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time (Telegraph)

[Death on the Dordogne] may be a gentle book but it does not pull its punches. It is well-written, introducing a charming, likeable main character: a satisfying detective story; and conveying a strong love and understanding of the Dordogne region of France (Eurocrime)

Deftly dark, mesmerizing, and totally engaging (French Embassy)

• Publisher: Quercus
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1784299405
• ISBN 13: 9781784299408
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352