Customer Reviews

The Dark Vineyard

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Saint-Denis is a fictional village in the Dordogne in southwestern France. Communal ceremonies have a timeless feel: "pagan but somehow deeply familiar . . . as though this was how all celebrations and events must have been in the past, centuries of roasted lambs and fires and wine, before the age of electricity."

Benoît "Bruno" Courrèges is the only member of the Police Municipale in town. He investigates an arson fire which destroys a research station where genetically modified crops are being grown. Bruno suspects militant environmentalists. But then two people die by inhaling the carbon dioxide from fermenting grapes.

Saint-Denis itself is at war with itself; a California winery wants to develop the village commercially. Bruno wants to save Saint-Denis but also sees the need for more jobs to preserve the status quo. "There are some things more valuable than money," he says. A friend: "A strange kind of policeman you are."

Both of these main themes -- opposition to GM crops and commercial development -- are based on real life events. EU official daily debate the adverse effects of "frankenfoods", on the one hand, and their purported benefits -- higher yields, resist pests and disease better and require less fertilizer and pesticide. French nationalists have successfully defeated the attempts of California wineries to acquire French vineyards, sometimes using violence.

Set in the beautiful Southwest, this mystery has charm and local color, and teaches a bit of social responsibility along with its low key detecting.

Robert C. Ross 2010

Bruno is back! I missed him terribly. Martin Walker's vividly etched character and the charming French countryside town of Saint-Denis won my heart in "Bruno, Chief of Police." Immediately addicted, I joined both mystery fans and armchair-tourists worldwide in eagerly awaiting the second in what we could only hope would soon become an endless series of Bruno-based novels. Why then did the publisher not include Bruno's name somewhere in the title/subtitle of this excellent sequel? From a branding and marketing perspective, it made no sense.

But that's a trifling complaint compared to the riches "The Dark Vineyard" offers both the senses and a curious mind. Walker doesn't disappoint. Once again, he's created a novel that is sensuous and suspense-filled as it is inviting and informative. By the last chapter (which, I confess, my pent-up curiosity demanded I peek at), I had effortlessly become knowledgeable about the hotly debated GMO controversy, international trade and economics, oenology, crime scene investigations, the art of the truffle omelette, French law, corporate espionage, the universality of local politics, and, most acutely observed, human nature. "Bruno wondered whether it was the policeman in him that made him so interested in how other people presented themselves to others. In his own experience, and indeed in his own case, what the public saw was often very different from the real person, but it was full of useful clues about the way the person would truly like to be. Bruno would love to be as calm and self-confident as he had taught himself to seem, and to be even a fraction as wise and patient as he sought to be appear."

Thanks to my new Kindle I didn't have to wait for the U.S. hardcover release. However you read "The Dark Vineyard," you'll find yourself transported, enchanted, enthralled and informed - reunited with characters and a town that quickly become the good friends and home away from home that every traveler and every reader hopes to find.

Two questions: When can I read the third novel? Which actor should portray Bruno? (If Kevin Kline were 35, he'd be my first choice.)

This is not one of those fast-paced mysteries where the plot develops at a break-neck speed offering twists and turns every couple of pages. This books is not meant to be gulped down in one sitting. Rather, it is to be savored little by little like a glass of good wine, which incidentally plays an important role in the novel.

Martin Walker takes his time introducing us to his engrossing cast of characters and to the quirky locale where the action takes place. This makes the book very unusual and extremely enjoyable. You really get to know what life is like in a small village in France. You feel like you personally get to experience the colors, the smells, the tastes, and the textures of Saint-Denis. Bruno, the rural policeman who is the main character of the series, is a very interesting and likeable person.

In a way, this book reminded me of Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford series because it also explores how modernization and globalization transform the traditional ways of life in rural areas. Another similarity is that both series place a social issue in the center of each mystery (in this case, the struggle of French ecologists against GMOs).

I am very glad that I discovered the series and will definitely check out the first book that has Bruno as its main character.

Wonderful stories with the added bonus of giving the rest us some insight into rural French life. Please write another "Bruno" book soon, Mr. Walker.

In the small village of Saint Denis in the Dordogne region of France, life hasn't changed much in centuries. Local vintners still tend their grapes by hand, and throw harvesting and stamping parties.

Bruno Courreges, Chief of Police, is in fact the only gendarme in town. He lives alone, in a house he rebuilt himself; his mistress having recently moved to Paris to further her career. His modest stand of truffle oaks is beginning to yield, and he makes marvelous preserves from the berry bushes he has planted. His neighbors are his friends, and he tries to resolve their problems before having to take official notice.

When a fire in an unregistered and illicit vineyard appears to have been deliberately set by activists, there are international implications, and the national police descend in force. The subsequent suspicious deaths of a local vintner and his son further complicate the case.

This is a charming book - almost a cozy. It reminds me of some of the Cat Who books in the painstaking everyday detail of the characters and their lives. Especially the food and wine - some of the descriptions of meals made me want to weep. Is everyone in France a wonderful cook?

This book is the third in a series, and worth hunting up the earlier mysteries. It was particularly interesting to me since a grandfather came from that region.

Bruno Courreges, Chief of Police (and only officer) of idyllic Saint-Denis in Southwest France makes his second appearance with a pre-dawn fire that lights up the night. An experimental agricultural station has been set ablaze, nearly killing the fire chief and endangering Bruno.

A group fighting genetically modified crops is the top suspect, but Bruno doesn't let obvious suspicion stand in the way of a thorough - and politic - investigation. Meanwhile, modernity is pushing at the village from another quarter: a wealthy California winemaker is nosing around, sizing up St. Denis for a big commercial winery and resort.

While his friend and mentor the mayor views the US winemaker's $10 million dollars as an infusion of life into the valley, Bruno is less certain. Sure, it would make the valley more prosperous, but it would also change the relaxed, timeless character of the place.

He does not interfere, however; Bruno is a natural diplomat, capable of weighing all sides of a question. This ability pervades his detective work as he uses his tact and his intimate knowledge of his neighbors to root out the truth while keeping the French equivalent of the State Police at bay.

The story is more complicated than Bruno originally believed, however, and more deaths ensue. As much (maybe more) fun than Bruno's suave detecting is his romantic life and his convivial meals with friends, the full-bodied appreciation of wine and the old communal rites of grape harvesting and crushing.

Walker, an international journalist and think-tank director, writes with wit and sensitivity and his Bruno novels are as much a celebration of a way of life as they are mysteries.

It is difficult to say whether the fictional town of Saint-Denis or its sole policeman, Benoit ["Bruno"] Courreges, is more charming, but certainly this novel is simply a delight. It is a murder-mystery wrapped up in the French countryside surrounded by grape vines, vats and wine bottles. Bruno is overly protective of his village, especially when a brash American offers to revolutionize the bucolic area and buy up most of the land to introduce mass wine-making and marketing to 'upgrade' the traditional small-town methods.

Adding to Bruno's woes initially is an arson fire which destroys a research station where genetically modified crops are being grown. The first suspects are militant environmentalists. Then two of Bruno's friends are found dead, one of carbon dioxide asphyxiation from inhaling wine fumes, the other from a heart attack or broken neck falling off a ladder looking for the victim in a wine vat.

It falls to Bruno not only to solve the murders, but to save the town and preserve its values, and create new desperately needed jobs. Then there is the dichotomy of his love life and his love of Saint-Denis. The novel is written simply but enjoyably and is recommended.

The second Bruno mystery continues to seduce us with the old world delights of the little market town of Saint-Denis in the gastronomic heartland of France. Bruno, chief of police, is unusually busy this time out. He has two situations to deal with: a case of arson and a prospecting visit from a big American winemaker.

The fire is quite mysterious - and the target controversial. In this investigation, Bruno finds himself "cooperating with" the sinister arm of the French police that specializes in terrorism.

And then there's the visiting American winemaker looking to invest in mega-vineyards in Saint-Denis. Bruno is conflicted, wanting to see his town prosper, but hating to see any change to local traditions.

Add to these dramas some suspicious deaths, a missing dog and a tempestuous love triangle - and you have as eventful a trip as you could hope for to the picturesque Périgord.

I'm impressed with how the author achieves a feeling of daily life transpiring in real time, interspersing dinner parties, grape treading, fights, flirtations and police work in a deliciously realistic flow. Meanwhile hot issues like environmental activism and climate change percolate in the background, making this a very contemporary mystery.

People drink pretty constantly - a petit apéro, a glass of pression, bottle after bottle of French and even foreign wines and the occasional sip of Glenfiddich. I don't drink myself, but I enjoyed getting drunk on the fictional fumes. All this adds to the authenticity of a mystery so centered upon the grape.

I really like the style and pace of Martin Walker's Bruno novels. Bruno keeps me fascinated with his brave deeds, kind heart and sharp brain. I look forward to the next book.

I like the Bruno books...they're charming. I live in the Perigord, I love it, so I know what it's like, and the author nails it, I think. His plots are just twisty enough to be good who-dun-its, just romantic enough to be engaging. Although I think he's too generous to the Greens. I will continue to buy Bruno books. They remind me a bit of the First Ladies Detective Agency series in their down-to-earthness. They're perfect for the trip from Paris Austerlitz to Souillac...I can read the whole thing in a little over four hours.

I read the first novel of this series and was hooked on Bruno, and I devoutly hope there is more to come! This one leads Bruno through the conflicting emotions of a friend probably being the perp in a crime, problems with his romantic life, and concern for the well being of his other friends, while tilting at the windmill of officialdom and corporate skullduggery. While the investments of a large corporation from America will bring jobs to his economically depressed area, is it worth the cost? Politicians are after him to look the other way to keep the corporation willing to invest, but will that investment hurt people he cares about? Rip them off? Destroy the countryside he loves and the town he cares deeply for? Is the corporation behind the crimes or is it another influence? When people he cares deeply for begin to die, is it accidental or is it murder? Will Bruno cling to his career oriented girl friend, or will he look more seriously at a local resident or a interesting newcomer. In between he fortifies himself with good wine, good friends, and truffle omelets....though I could have used a less accurate description of eating pheasant brains!