Bruno, Chief of Police
A Mystery of the French Countryside
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4.2 • 377 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
The first installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Chief of Police Bruno.
Meet Benoît Courrèges, aka Bruno, a policeman in a small village in the South of France. He’s a former soldier who has embraced the pleasures and slow rhythms of country life. He has a gun but never wears it; he has the power to arrest but never uses it. But then the murder of an elderly North African who fought in the French army changes all that. Now Bruno must balance his beloved routines—living in his restored shepherd’s cottage, shopping at the local market, drinking wine, strolling the countryside—with a politically delicate investigation. He’s paired with a young policewoman from Paris and the two suspect anti-immigrant militants. As they learn more about the dead man’s past, Bruno’s suspicions turn toward a more complex motive.
"Enjoyable.... Martin Walker plots with the same finesse with which Bruno can whip up a truffle omelette, and both have a clear appreciation for a life tied to the land." —The Christian Science Monitor
"A nice literary pairing with the slow-food movement.... [It is] lovely...to linger at the table." —Entertainment Weekly
"A wonderfully crafted novel as satisfying as a French pastry but with none of the guilt or calories." —Tuscon Citizen's Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Policing in Chief Bruno Courr ges's sun-dappled patch of P rigord involves protecting local fromages from E.U. hygiene inspectors, orchestrating village parades and enjoying the obligatory leisurely lunch that is, until the brutal murder of an elderly Algerian immigrant instantly jolts Walker's second novel (after The Caves of P rigord) from provincial cozy to timely whodunit. As a high-powered team of investigators, including a criminally attractive female inspector, invade sleepy St. Denis to forestall any anti-Arab violence, the amiable Bruno must begin regarding his neighbors or should we say potential suspects in a rather different light. Without sacrificing a soup on of the novel's smalltown charm or its characters' endearing quirkiness, Walker deftly drives his plot toward a dark place where old sins breed fresh heartbreak. Walker, a foreign affairs journalist, is also the author of such nonfiction titles as The Iraq War and America Reborn.
Customer Reviews
BRuno, Chief of Police
GOod read.
Bruno, chief of police
This is a good book, it took me awhile to read it.
Brilliant
You're not sure quite what you're getting when you start this story, a sleepy town with a straight laced cop. Maybe a funny story about dodging the EU health inspectors. This is a book packed full of twists, great French food and wine, and history that no one outside of France probably really knows very well. I'm off to do some research! In the end you really feel for the predicament Bruno finds himself in when he uncovers information about the people in the town he knows so well and how things that happen during a war can linger even when more than half a century has passed.