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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.Read more ›
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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.
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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.
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After reading two books in this series, I find it a lightweight series. Surely, the setting in the Perigord region of France is picturesque and idyllic, the descriptions of countryside, food, and wine are delightful to read about, but after two books I can’t help feeling everything is too perfect. The village of Saint-Denis and its surroundings is full of people who are too polite, too friendly, too caring about each other—they don’t seem realistic to me. The level of tolerance among them is higher than most places in the world.
Bruno, the local cop, is also a little too nice, a little too diplomatic, a little too easy going. It would be interesting to see him take part in a confrontation and lose his cool just once. At the same time, he is an enjoyable character with a great many talents (cooking, hunting, tennis, rugby) and with an agreeable personality.
As for this book, the high points are learning about the winemaking industry in the Perigord, including small local grape growers who make their own vintage, and learning about how the English come to France and buy old farms to fix up and rent out to tourists. The murder/non-murder plot would have been OK, but, frankly, when we learn there is an attempt at framing someone (no giveaway here as it is obvious that is what is going to be discovered by Bruno), it becomes weak and falls apart a bit. The person involved in the frame job wouldn’t have the skill for that, plus the reader never really gets an explanation of how it actually was done and when it was done, as far as I could tell.
This is an adequate book, and I plan to keep reading the series to see if it becomes something more than it is or at least maintains its level of competence and enjoyableness.
For suggestions for more mystery series that may interest you, check out my website describing and reviewing many series (see my Amazon profile for the URL).
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This item: The Dark Vineyard: A Novel of the French Countryside (Bruno Chief Of Police Book 2)
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