Book of the Month: Bruno, Chief of Police, by Martin Walker
Ever since I lived and worked in Paris the summer after graduating from college, I have wanted to visit the Dordogne region in southwest France. A colleague of mine that Parisian summer hailed from Dordogne and used to spin glowing tales of his native region, full of ancient history, exquisite landscapes, and hearty cuisine.
At last, thanks to Martin Walker's new book, Bruno, Chief of Police, I have fulfilled that long-ago wish. The Dordogne is the setting for Walker's winning mystery, and while Bruno is the central character in the book, the region plays a critical role.
A longtime reporter, editor, and international affairs columnist for the Guardian and United Press International, Walker lovingly evokes the fictional town of St. Denis where his story is set. This is a village of lush green oak and walnut trees and meadows, golden stone buildings, red tiled rooftops, and wrought-iron railings hung with washing, where no building is less than 200 years old. It's a place where secretaries and street sweepers take their morning croissants and coffee at the same zinc bar every day, limestone cliff caves cradle prehistoric wall-paintings, and the chief of police is as renowned for the vin de noix green walnut liqueur he devotedly concocts as for his crime-solving abilities.
This seemingly idyllic setting's placid surface obscures, as in much of France, dark historic currents and contemporary conflicts. These begin to emerge when a war hero from Algeria is brutally murdered in an apparently racist attack. As Walker's protagonist slowly begins to unravel the truth behind the murder, new facets of Dordogne emerge, from enmities that date back to World War II.
Walker weaves these threads into a flowing Peter Mayle-meets-Alexander McCall Smith narrative that illuminates the unresolved undercurrents and alluring rites and riches of rural France. In the end, Bruno proves to be not simply a perspicacious detective, but an engaging guide to the delights of Dordogne.
