Captain Bruno Courreges goes by the grand title of Chief of Police, though in truth he's the only municipal policeman on staff in the small town of St Denis in the beautiful Perigord region of south west France. Bruno sees his job as protecting St Denis from its enemies, and these include the capital's bureaucrats and their EU counterparts in Brussels. Today is market day in the ancient town. Inspectors from Brussels have been swooping on France's markets, attempting to enforce EU hygiene rules. The locals call the Brussels' bureaucrats 'Gestapo' and Bruno supports their resistance. What's more, here in what was 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.
Bruno, Chief of Police Series
Step into the charming tranquility of the French countryside, where one dedicated police chief maintains peace and justice. This series unfolds in a picturesque village, with each case revealing intricate human relationships and local secrets. Follow the lives of the residents, their joys and sorrows, as the protagonist navigates seemingly simple yet often complex crimes. It's perfect reading for fans of atmospheric and insightful detective fiction.
Recommended Reading Order
The Dark Vineyard. Grand Cru, englische Ausgabe
- 320 pages
- 12 hours of reading
Just before dawn one summer morning Bruno is summoned by the wail of the siren in the little town of St Denis in the Périgord. A fire is raging in a local barn and spreading to the surrounding fields. When Bruno arrives at the scene, the smell of petrol leaves no doubt it was arson. Meanwhile, a Californian producer wants to set up a wine-making business in the valley. Despite the money and jobs this would bring, many fear it would destroy their town. When a violent death follows the crop burning, it looks as though someone is prepared to do anything to stop the scheme. Bruno will have to draw on all his local knowledge to reach the truth.
Black Diamond
- 368 pages
- 13 hours of reading
At the heart of French gastronomy lies the famed black truffle of the Périgord. But France's truffles are being adulterated with cheaper ones from China, and it seems that Chinese organised crime is behind the fraud. The third internationally bestselling case for Bruno, Chief of Police. In St Denis market, a Vietnamese family has been selling their dishes for years, until their stall is wrecked by attackers who look Chinese. Again it appears that organised crime is behind the outrage, firing the opening shots of a Viet-Chinese triad war. When vicious murder, illegal immigration and the importation of underage girls for prostitution are added to the mix, Bruno has his work cut out to keep St Denis from tearing itself apart.
Bruno's day has not started well. A summit to be held in a local château is threatened by Basque separatists, and animal rights campaigners are causing havoc. Up to his ears with ETA and PETA, he's not even had time for lunch. And it's about to get worse. A local archaeological team unearths a well-preserved skeleton. Yet it's a lot more recent than they'd hoped - boasting a Swatch on its wrist and a bullet-hole in its skull. With an influx of visitors making Saint Denis almost as crowded as the excavation's grave, the key appears to lie with one of these outsiders. Bruno must think fast and keep his wits about him. Especially as the answer may lie a little closer to home.
Bruno, Chief of Police: The Devil's Cave
- 352 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Mystery, food, and wine in the French province of Dordogne—the latest offering from Martin Walker, featuring Benoît “Bruno” Courrèges. It’s spring in St. Denis. The village choir is preparing for its Easter concert, the wildflowers are blooming, and among the lazy whorls of the river a dead woman is found floating in a boat. It’s another case for Bruno, the town’s cherished chief of police. With the discovery of sinister markings and black candles near the body, it seems to him that the occult might be involved. And as questions mount—regarding a troubling real estate proposal in the region; a suspicious, violent death made to look accidental; and the sudden reappearance of a politically controversial elderly countess—Bruno and his colleagues and friends are drawn ever closer to a climactic showdown in the Gouffre de Colombac: the place locals call the Devil’s Cave. With the enchanting backdrop of France’s pastoral heartland, a cast of local characters as vibrant as their surroundings, enough sumptuous repasts to satisfy any literary gourmand, and a hero winningly capable of balancing the good life with a dogged dedication to solving the crimes that threaten it, The Devil’s Cave invites readers to raise a glass and turn the page.
The Resistance Man
- 352 pages
- 13 hours of reading
In south-west France, WW2 casts the longest shadow when some rare bank notes are discovered, notes that may have links to the legendary Neuvic train robbery in 1944 in the sixth internationally-bestselling case for Bruno, chief of police
Bruno, chef de police in the French town of St Denis, is already busy with a case when the body of an undercover French Muslim cop is found in the woods, a man who called Bruno for help only hours before. But Bruno's sometime boss and rival, the Brigadier, doesn't see this investigation as a priority - there are bigger issues at stake. Bruno has other ideas. Meanwhile, a Muslim youth named Sami turns up at a French army base in Afghanistan hoping to get home to St Denis. One of Bruno's old army comrades helps to smuggle Sami back to France, but the FBI aren't far behind. Then an American woman appears in St Denis with a warrant for Sami's extradition. Bruno must unravel these multiple mysteries, amidst pressure from his bosses, and find his own way to protect his town and its people.
The Dordogne village of St Denis is tearing itself apart. Can Bruno, chef de police, keep it together in this gripping new crime novel?
Fatal Pursuit
- 336 pages
- 12 hours of reading
The real life disappearance of 'the most beautiful car ever made' sparks a compelling new case for Bruno, Chief of Police
The Templars' Last Secret
- 400 pages
- 14 hours of reading
A mystery buried deep in France's medieval past resurfaces - and brings murder with it. The tenth case in the internationally-bestselling Bruno, chief of police series
A Taste for Vengeance
- 384 pages
- 14 hours of reading
A death squad loose in the woods and teaching a cookery class - Bruno knows which he's more afraid of in the thirteenth mouthwatering addition to this beloved series
The Body in the Castle Well
- 384 pages
- 14 hours of reading
Thanks to Bruno's dog, Balzac, a rich American art student is found dead at the bottom of a deep well in an ancient hilltop castle. The young woman, Claudia, had been working in the archives of an eminent French art historian, a crippled Resistance war hero and an expert on the French Renaissance, at his art-filled chateau. As Claudia's grieving mother arrives in St Denis and her family's White House connections get the US Embassy and the FBI involved, Bruno tries to trace the people and events that led to her death - or was it murder? Bruno learns that Claudia had been trying to buy the chateau and art collection of her tutor, even while her researches led her to suspect that some of his attributions may have been forged. This takes Bruno down a trail that leads him from the ruins of Berlin in 1945, where a French SS soldier won the last Knight's Cross that Hitler awarded, to France's colonial war in Algeria and the OAS extremists who tried to assassinate De Gaulle. The long arm of French history has reached out to find a new victim, but can Bruno identify the killer - and prove his case?
A Shooting at Chateau Rock
- 368 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Millions of readers worldwide are talking about the Dordogne Mysteries. Discover why and join them with this gripping new read!
