Very good until it got a little far-fetched and heroic. ( )

staged-discovery, federal-agents, local-politics, local-law-enforcement, local-gossip, long-term-illness, lies, subterfuge, France, crime fiction/thriller, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, small-town, rural, relationship-issues, relationships, relatives, audiobook, false-information, false-identities, secrets, secret-passages, caves, investigations, foodie, procedural, superstitions, suspense, due-diligence, witty, wealthy, greed, deception, international-crime-and-mystery, unputdownable*****

This one starts with a body, progresses to an impression of devil worship and drugs, discovers one large fraudulent deception, and lots more. I love this series!
Voice actor Robert Ian MacKenzie is excellent with interpretation and character definition, and superior in the rolling tones of French pronunciations. ( )

3.5*
The mystery was fine but it is the life in St. Denis that I really like in these books. ( )

Chef de Police Bruno Courreges is back in another tale of murder and intrigue from St Denis in the Dordogne. I must say that for such an idyllic-seeming village, there is an alarmingly high instance of murder. That does not make the location seem any less appealing – with each new book that I read by Martin Walker, my yen to visit the Dordogne grows ever stronger, and I guess I will just take my chances.

Bruno is an empathetic character. Although not from St Denis originally, his enthusiastic and pragmatic approach to the demands of his job have made him very popular, and trusted, among the local community, ands it is certainly striking that compared to the protagonists of the numerous other crime novels I have read recently, he seems to spend almost as much time trying to find reasons to avoid arresting minor miscreants as he does investigating more serious crime.

I always enjoy Walker’s accounts of the role of local policing in the Dordogne. Unlike my home city of London, where the Met holds sway over all aspects of police work (maintaining public order, and preventing or investigating crime), Bruno has to tread a fine jurisdictional line, careful not to provoke trouble with the local gendarmerie (a sort of equivalent to the American National Guard).

This latest case starts when the body of a beautiful woman is found floating in a punt down the river into the village of St Denis. When it is eventually recovered (a process not without an element of farce), it becomes clear that the woman had been murdered. There are also indications suggesting that she may have been subjected to occult rites. Meanwhile, the village is split by news of a planned luxury building development. The promoters claim it will bring great fortune to the village, creating local jobs, providing additional leisure amenities, and boosting the municipal tax yield. However, Bruno is not convinced, and his doubts are strengthened after discussions with his counterparts in one of the neighbouring towns that was still paying off debts incurred by a similar project by the same developers that had gone wrong.

As always, Martin Walker manages these separate plot strands very capably, bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion. ( )

Bruno enjoys cooking, his new horse, and being the village policeman. He is committed to the first two aspects of his life including making his own foie gras and wine, and rather unconventional about the latter one. Despite this laid-back approach, he is quite proficient in his police duties. A quite good supporting cast combined with St. Denis and its environs provides a quite good staging ground for this enjoyable mystery series. ( )