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A Mystery of the French Countryside
It's spring in the idyllic village of St. Denis, and for Chief of Police Bruno Courrèges that means lamb stews, bottles of his beloved Pomerol, morning walks with his hound, Gigi - and a new string of regional crimes and international capers. When a local archaeological team looking for Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal remains turns up a corpse with a watch on its wrist and a bullet in its head, it's up to Bruno to solve the case. But the task will not be easy, not with a meddlesome new magistrate eager to make a strong impression, an ongoing series of attacks by animal rights activists on local foie gras producers, and a nearby summit between France and Spain approaching - not to mention two beautiful, brilliant women vying for Bruno's affections.
Complicating events even further, the professor in charge of the dig is soon reported missing, leading Bruno to suspect that the past and the present are bound up in dangerous ways. As summer approaches, the wine growing cooler and the fruit sweeter, Bruno's investigations take him indelibly deeper into contemporary Europe's dark history of terrorist and counterterrorist tactics - and toward a dramatic finale.
As savory as foie gras, as piquant as vin de noix, and as richly complex as the region's truffles, The Crowded Grave is a feast for mystery lovers and Francophiles alike.
"Walker hits the sweet spot of balancing humor and drama, and his food descriptions will leave readers fantasizing about dining in the Perigord." - Publishers Weekly
"One of the charms of the series is the detailed procession of French country cuisine that no investigation is ever allowed to impede; another is the character of Bruno himself – humane, sensible, honest and a very good cook." - The Guardian (UK)
"Walker writes smoothly and with well constructed plots and characters." - Euro Crime (UK)
This information about The Crowded Grave was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Jerry Bauer
Martin Walker is a senior fellow of the Global Business Policy Council, a private think tank based in Washington, D.C. He is also editor in chief emeritus and international affairs columnist at United Press International. His previous novels in the Bruno series are Bruno, Chief of Police; The Dark Vineyard; Black Diamond; The Crowded Grave; The Devil's Cave; The Resistance Man; The Children Return; The Patriarch; Fatal Pursuit; and The Templars' Last Secret, all international best sellers. He lives in Washington, D.C., and the Dordogne.
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