Bruno, Chief of Police
Books | Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / Culinary
3.7
(62)
Martin Walker
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
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More Details:
Author
Martin Walker
Pages
288
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published Date
2009-03-24
ISBN
0307271463 9780307271464
Community ReviewsSee all
"Bruno Courrèges and his tiny hamlet in France are a delight. I discovered this book through a Private Investigator book club, and I found Bruno a kind and sympathetic man and a keen detective. A murder in Bruno’s sleepy French town has its origins in WWII and — of course — in the Nazis, who again prove to be the world’s most horrible villains. The author, Martin Walker, clearly loves the Perigord commune of France and as a reader I too was drawn to the wealth of beauty, farming and food. I will be back to read more of Bruno."
"It’s set in France!"
C C
Catherine Chew
"I wavered between a 3 and a 3.5 rounded to 4 on this one, but I just couldn’t give it the extra star. I wanted to really like this. I really, really did. But something just didn’t work for me as much as I wanted it to.<br/><br/>I did love the history. I spent a lot of time googling different events mentioned (particularly the Algerian War of Independence) and I thought the story tied together nicely from a historical perspective. But I guess I just didn’t really like the characters all that much if I am being brutally honest.<br/><br/>I wanted to read this because of the initial similarities between this series and one of my all time favorites, Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache books. But while I adore every character in the latter’s stories, this one I couldn’t even bother to keep the characters straight, much less care for. Though that’s probably because I stopped about halfway through to read another book. I doubt I’ll read more in the series, despite the decadent food descriptions, but it will make for a good book club discussion."
A P
Allie Peduto
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