The Dark Vineyard: A Case for Bruno, Chief of Police [Hardcover]

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.

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.

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.

Just before dawn one summer morning, Captain Bruno Courrèges is pulled from sleep by the wail of the town siren atop the Mairie, summoning the volunteer firemen of St Denis. Bruno, the only policeman in the small Périgord town, follows the fire engines towards the site of a large barn, now engulfed in flame, the surrounding fields ablaze. Everything points to arson. When a wine maker from California visits the town, with plans to buy up half the valley to create a huge wine-producing operation, opinions are divided. 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, wants to push the scheme through, but Bruno is less convinced. He fears his little town will never be the same again once the Californians have a foothold. When another 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 may not have the gadgets, budget or man-power for a large-scale police investigation, but he's negotiated minefields like this before. He'll have to draw on all his skills, tact and local knowledge - but will that be enough to get to the truth?

Martin Walker was educated at Balliol College, Oxford and Harvard. In 25 years with the Guardian, he served as Bureau Chief in Moscow and, in the US, as European Editor. In addition to his prize-winning journalism, he wrote and presented the BBC series 'Martin Walker's Russia' and 'Clintonomics'. He has written several acclaimed works of non-fiction, including The Cold War: A History. He spends his summers in his house in the Dordogne. Visit Bruno's website at www.brunochiefofpolice.com