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

1
Bruno, chief of police
Antony Beevor
342 pages
12 hours of reading
3.8(932)Add rating
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.
2
The Dark Vineyard. Grand Cru, englische Ausgabe
Martin Walker
320 pages
12 hours of reading
3.7(166)Add rating
Just before dawn one summer morning Bruno is summoned by the wail of the siren in the little town of St Denis in the PÃƒ©rigord. 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.
3
Black Diamond
Martin Walker
368 pages
13 hours of reading
4.0(252)Add rating
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.
4
The Crowded Grave
Martin Walker
320 pages
12 hours of reading
4.1(183)Add rating
Spanish separatists, angry activists and a mystery corpse: Bruno has his work cut out.
5
The Devil's Cave
Martin Walker
3.8(158)Add rating
Bruno, Chief of Police, has his work cut out with death, darks arts and domestic abuse on the agenda.
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6
The Resistance Man
Martin Walker
352 pages
13 hours of reading
4.1(117)Add rating
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
7
Children of war
Martin Walker
4.2(1462)Add rating
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.
8
The Dying Season
Martin Walker
3.9(40)Add rating
The Dordogne village of St Denis is tearing itself apart. Can Bruno, chef de police, keep it together in this gripping new crime novel?
9
Fatal Pursuit
Martin Walker
400 pages
14 hours of reading
4.1(113)Add rating
The real life disappearance of 'the most beautiful car ever made' sparks a compelling new case for Bruno, chief of police
10
The Templars' Last Secret
Martin Walker
3.9(96)Add rating
The victim carries no identification and her fingerprints are not known to the French police or Interpol. The only clue to the woman's identity is that her dentistry looks American, but Bruno's inquiries at local hotels and gites yield no trace of a missing foreign woman. The chateau of Commarque, begun in the 11th century, was founded by a Bishop of Sarlat and entrusted to the Knights Templar. In the rocks beneath it are caves. It is one of the few Templar sites in France that has never been associated with the fabled hidden treasure of the Templars - never until now, when a local journalist publishes a sensational story around the unknown woman's death and a centuries-old mystery looks like it might finally be solved...
11
A Taste for Vengeance
Martin Walker
3.6(110)Add rating
A death squad loose in the woods and teaching a cookery class - Bruno knows which he's more afraid of in the eleventh mouthwatering addition to this beloved series
12
The Body in the Castle Well
Martin Walker
384 pages
14 hours of reading
3.9(136)Add rating
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?
13
A Shooting at Chateau Rock
Martin Walker
368 pages
13 hours of reading
3.8(271)Add rating
Millions of readers worldwide are talking about the Dordogne Mysteries. Discover why and join them with this gripping new read starring Bruno Chief of Police, France's favourite cop