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Review
Walker’s relaxed style and good humour bring to life his engaging hero and delightful home and make this one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time' Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph.
‘Bruno is a delightful character, and Walker’s handling of long-held grudges is intelligent and sympathetic’ Guardian.
‘Walker brings to life both a complete community and the chief of police who is its protector, teacher and friend. This book’s ingredients are combined as carefully as Bruno’s good meals. Second helpings, please!’ Literary Review.
‘Written with a deep love of rural France, for the countryside, the people, the way of life and the cuisine… so pervasive and agreeable is the charm of this novel that it might even allow you to pass the time pleasantly as you wait in an airport departure lounge for your long-delayed holiday flight to France’ Scotsman.
‘Bruno is a delightful character, and Walker’s handling of long-held grudges is intelligent and sympathetic’ Guardian.
‘Walker brings to life both a complete community and the chief of police who is its protector, teacher and friend. This book’s ingredients are combined as carefully as Bruno’s good meals. Second helpings, please!’ Literary Review.
‘Written with a deep love of rural France, for the countryside, the people, the way of life and the cuisine… so pervasive and agreeable is the charm of this novel that it might even allow you to pass the time pleasantly as you wait in an airport departure lounge for your long-delayed holiday flight to France’ Scotsman.
Product Description
Just before dawn one late-summer morning, Bruno is pulled from sleep by the wail of the town siren atop the Mairie, summoning the volunteer firemen of St Denis. A large barn and the fields surrounding it are ablaze. When Bruno arrives at the scene, the smell of petrol leaves no doubt - it was arson. Soon after, a wine mogul from California visits the town, with plans to buy up half the valley to create an industrial-scale wine-producing operation. Such a business would bring a healthy injection of dollars to St Denis, plus the creation of at least fifty jobs. Bruno’s boss, the Mayor, supports the scheme but Bruno is less convinced. He’s not against progress, but he fears his little town will never be the same once the Californians have a foothold. Then a second, similar outrage follows the crop burning. It appears that someone is determined to stop the scheme and is prepared to go to any lengths - including murder - to do so. Bruno must use all his skills, tact and local knowledge to negotiate a minefield in order to reach the truth.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First rate sequel.,
By
This review is from: The Dark Vineyard: A Case for Bruno, Chief of Police (Hardcover)
"The Dark Vineyard" is Martin Walker's second "Bruno" novel. Walker began his excellent series with "Bruno, Chief of Police", and continues with Bruno in this book. I think a third in the series will be published this summer.
Walker's novels are sort of "gentle" police procedurals. The crimes are in the background, and Walker focuses on Bruno, the former soldier who has become the police chief of the French Dordogne village of St Denis. Down the road from Perigueux, a real city in the region, the imaginary village of St Denis has the ubiquitous French village citizens you've come to know, ones who populate most books of this sort. Bruno is the chief of police - a one man show, actually - and is also an intimate part of village life as a Rugby coach. When crimes happen, Bruno often has to decide how to handle the investigation and both roles he plays in the village often come into conflict. Along with the criminal part of the story, Walker does a very good job at explaining French village life, with the forces of modernisation competing with those who want to keep old traditions in place. In this book, these factors - tradition against modernisation - are seen in the wine industry in the village. Walker's books are really about life in rural French, with a little crime thrown in. It's a good mix and Walker writes superbly.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
another perfect case for Bruno, chief of police,
By rexclick (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dark Vineyard: A Case for Bruno, Chief of Police (Hardcover)
I really liked Walker's last book, so I was somewhat worried that the new Bruno, chief of police book would be a diluted version of the first. It isn't. It is just as good as the first one - if not better, it is well written and Bruno is still perfectly in character. For the lover of Frane, Languedoc is still beautifully described, without repeating what was said in the last book. I loved it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent easy and enjoyable summer holiday read,
By
This review is from: The Dark Vineyard: A Case for Bruno, Chief of Police (Hardcover)
I don't think the author has any pretensions about this series of books in that he has set up a series of light but quite gritty whodunnits where his obvious love of the Dordogne, its geography people and cuisine, shines through and which serves to make this series and this book in particular a delight of its type. I note that other reviewers draw parallels with other 'tecs and cops and I would add Hamish Macbeth to that list as Bruno's loyalty to his local community (almost) takes precedence over the course of justice rather like the ginger Scotsman although Bruno's character hints at a darker past. An easygoing, read it in a day, book just made for the holidays.
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