CANR
WORK TITLE: A Grave in the Woods
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NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: CANR 303
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PERSONAL
Born January 23, 1947 (some sources say 1949), in Durham, England; son of Tom and Dorothy Walker; married Julia Watson (a writer), May 6, 1978; children: Kate Emily, Fanny Sophia.
EDUCATION:Balliol College, Oxford, M.A. (with first-class honors), 1969; graduate study at Harvard University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist, policy expert, and writer. Affiliated with Johannesburg Star and Newscheck, both in South Africa; speechwriter for U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie, 1970-71; Guardian, London, England, reporter, columnist, and foreign correspondent, beginning 1972, Moscow bureau chief, 1983-88, U.S. bureau chief, Washington, DC, 1989-98; United Press International, chief international correspondent, beginning c. 1998, editor, for three years, then editor emeritus and international affairs columnist; Global Business Policy Council, Washington, DC, senior director, 1997—.
European Policy Institute, associate director, London and Geneva; European Institute, vice chair, Washington, DC. Writer for British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) World Service. Broadcaster for BBC-TV and BBC-Radio; Washington commentator for Radio Telefeis Eiran, Radio and TV New Zealand, and Australia’s ABC-TV and ABC-Radio; commentator for CNN, CBC, C-Span, CBS-TV, and National Public Radio. Harvard University, Harkness fellow and resident tutor at Kirkland House, 1969-70; New School for Social Research (now New School), New York, NY, senior fellow of World Policy Institute; Loyola College, Baltimore, H.L. Menken Lecturer, 1994; Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Public Policy fellow, 2000-01, then senior scholar; lecturer at colleges and universities in Moscow, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Chicago, and New York, and at National War College.
MIILITARY:Royal Air Force cadet, pilot, 1960-65.
MEMBER:National Union of Journalists, Royal Institute of International Affairs.
AWARDS:Congressional fellow of American Political Science Association, 1970-71; Britain’s Reporter of the Year Prize, 1987; Prix Charbonnier, 2021.
POLITICS: “Libertarian anti-fascist.” RELIGION: “Vague.”WRITINGS
Also author of Powers of the Press: A Comparative Study of the World’s Leading Newspapers, 1981; Martin Walker’s Russia, 1989; The Independent Traveler’s Guide to the Soviet Union, 1990; and The Insight Guide to Washington, DC, 1992. Work is represented in anthologies, including The Young Unicorns, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1973. Contributor to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Contributor to periodicals, including New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, New Yorker, New Republic, Times Literary Supplement, Spectator, National Interest, American Interest, Wilson Quarterly, Die Zeit, El Mundo, and Moskovskii Novosti; author of a weekly column for the Moscow Times and essays for the Los Angeles Times Opinion section; contributing editor, Europe magazine; author of the “Walker’s World” column for United Press International; writer for BBC World Service.
SIDELIGHTS
British journalist Martin Walker is a multitalented writer who has branched out into a variety of genres, including fiction, travel, politics, and history. He has also worked extensively as a commentator on radio and television and taught at numerous colleges and universities. Walker’s long career as a writer and editor for the Guardian in England has included stints as bureau chief in Moscow and Washington, DC; both assignments resulted in books written on the places, people, and politics he encountered. Walker’s biography of President Bill Clinton, The President We Deserve: Bill Clinton: His Rise, Falls, and Comebacks, and a collection of narrative biographies, America Reborn: A Twentieth-Century Narrative in Twenty-Six Lives, have received considerable critical praise.
Walker’s earlier work included assignments as a foreign correspondent. He once commented to CA that during the 1960s he “reported on and suffered wars in the Congo, the Spanish Sahara, Iran, and Afghanistan.” During the 1970s his work as a journalist included an interview with Idi Amin, then president of Uganda, and an exposé that halted Jordan’s sale of modern tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, and jet fighter aircraft to South Africa. He also noted: “My wife and I spent a year traveling around the world, and were on the last civilian convoy down the Khyber Pass from Afghanistan.”
Regarding his some of his early books, Walker stated: “The National Front, on fascist movements in modern Britain, was in response to an emerging political crisis in Britain. My first novel, The Infiltrator, was written while I was covering the Portuguese revolution for the Guardian, to tell of the political machinations I knew to be happening, but could not prove adequately for a newspaper. My other novels follow a similar pattern.”
Nonfiction
The book that ties together Walker’s work in the Soviet Union and the United States is The Cold War: A History. Originally published in Great Britain in 1993 as The Cold War and the Making of the Modern World, the book presents the Cold War from a global perspective and includes research using newly available information from the Kremlin archives. In Kirkus Reviews, a critic described the work as an “absorbing history spanning five complex decades of geopolitics and economics with clarity and panache” and credited Walker with “combin[ing] a broad awareness of history with a journalist’s magpie eye for the telling anecdote.”
In 1996 Walker published The President We Deserve, which covers events in President Bill Clinton’s life from birth to early 1996. While some critics saw the book as a decidedly Clinton-friendly presentation, it was also regularly judged to be a superior biography of the president. In the New York Times, Douglas Brinkley said that Walker had written “a shrewd, stylishly conceived narrative that distinguishes itself as the most comprehensive book on Mr. Clinton to date,” although he felt it lacks the documentary background to make it of lasting interest. Brinkley found that Walker focuses heavily on the Clinton administration’s role in global free-trade developments and identified his “overall thesis” as being “that Bill Clinton is the archetypal postwar American … [and] the perfect symbol of the great American meritocracy.” Booklist writer Gilbert Taylor characterized The President We Deserve as a “policy-oriented biography” that is “strong on domestic politics.”
Continuing in the biographical vein, Walker next penned America Reborn. In this narrative, he offers chapters on twenty-six famous Americans who played important roles in U.S. history or otherwise illustrate an important aspect of the society. Among those treated in the book are Theodore Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Henry Ford, Duke Ellington, Betty Friedan, William Boeing, Richard Nixon, Walter Reuther, Frank Lloyd Wright, Katharine Hepburn, and John Steinbeck.
Again, critics were pleased with Walker’s perceptive, if not scholarly, approach to his subject. In his review of America Reborn for Booklist, Taylor enjoyed Walker’s “impressive command over a range of topics” and noted how he “teases out the larger meanings of figures many highbrows hate,” such as Walt Disney. In Library Journal, Edward Gibson suggested that the author “uses an almost novelistic approach to the telling of America’s story.” Gibson felt that among similar books, “none [is] as sweeping or as well written.” Milder praise came from a Publishers Weekly critic, who remarked that “the early chapters are essentially recapitulations of received wisdom”; however, starting with figures from the 1970s, the narrative was considered greatly improved, especially in the chapter on Richard Nixon. And New York Times critic Adam Hochschild complimented Walker as being among those “literate Britons who didn’t stop thinking about history when they took up daily journalism.” While he considered the absence of a strong theme to be a possible fault in the book, Hochschild favorably identified Walker’s “shrewd eye for the significance of people and events we otherwise take for granted, and a consistent undertone of gentle demythologizing.” He concluded that America Reborn is “a quirky, readable and thoughtful look at the American century by an outsider who knows us very well indeed.”
Novels
In 2002 Walker published the historical novel The Caves of Perigord. English auction house worker Lydia Dean is pleased when British officer Major Manners presents her with an ancient cave painting of French origins that his late father possessed. When the rock fragment is stolen, Dean begins to retrace its origins to find out why it is so important.
“Though much of the detail is fascinating,” commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “Walker devotes more energy to describing WWII technology and warfare than to developing the characters.” Similarly, a contributor to Kirkus Reviews mentioned that “the cave art is great, the rest less gripping.” Booklist contributor Carrie Bissey took a different perspective to the novel, however, citing that “the power struggles and dramas of each era come vividly to life in this epic read.”
“Bruno, Chief of Police” Series
Walker initiated a new series in 2008 with the publication of the novel Bruno, Chief of Police. Benoit “Bruno” Courrèges, the chief of police in St. Denis, France, normally spends his days leisurely undertaking his light load of responsibilities. However, when an elderly Algerian immigrant is murdered, Bruno is forced to view the townspeople in a new light in order to find the murderer.
Judith Cutler, reviewing the novel in Shots, opined that “the only minus is its occasional long-winded didacticism in the matter of English food, and so on.” Nevertheless, Cutler suggested: “Go on, read it—and have a lovely wallow.” Maxine Clarke, writing in Euro Crime, thought that “although in many respects this is a ‘feel-good’ book, providing an idyllic and partisan depiction of the French country way of life which exists still despite the efforts of the relentless modern world to homogenize it, the author is not afraid to address difficult issues head-on, personal and political.” Clarke admitted: “I look forward to reading more about this charmingly self-deprecating man, his past (plenty of angles are hinted at) and his neighbours—not forgetting, of course, his next criminal case.” Julia Holmes, reviewing the novel in Entertainment Weekly, projected that if the novel were turned into a movie, it would come across as “Music Box meets A Year in Provence.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer mentioned that the author “deftly drives his plot toward a dark place where old sins breed fresh heartbreak,” and a contributor to Kirkus Reviews opined that the author creates “a charming table with little mystery and less suspense, but the civilized approach to detection will likely appeal to fans of Roderic Jeffries’s Inspector Alvarez.”
The following year Walker published the sequel, The Dark Vineyard: A Case for Bruno, Chief of Police. After an arsonist burns down a vineyard, a California wine mogul offers to turn the area into a mass-producing wine region. The town’s population is divided, and more agricultural espionage, this time against the foreign investor, gives Bruno the responsibility of figuring out who is causing these problems. Teri Louise Kelly, reviewing the novel in Adelaide, South Australia’s Independent Weekly, remarked that the story becomes “bogged down at times in too much intrigue, subplot, and technical diatribe.” However, Kelly noted that Walker’s ability to write using “vivid, but not gaudy, prose, offsets what is a currently overused crime/thriller subject matter.”
The “Bruno, Chief of Police” series continues with Black Diamond, a reference to the valuable black diamond truffle (which can retail for up to 4,000 euros per kilo in France). In this third installment of the series, Bruno is called upon to investigate suspicious dealings and price-fixing at the Ste. Alvere truffle market in Perigord. Complications pile on as Vietnamese vendors become the victims of a series of violent attacks, a Chinese restaurant is firebombed, Chinese and Vietnamese gangs battle for control of the truffle market, and Bruno’s longtime friend and fellow truffle hunter, Hercule Vendrot, is brutally murdered. It later turns out that Vendrot had supervised torture and assassinations during the years when Vietnam was a French colony, and his memoir reveals treachery surrounding France’s colony in Algeria. Meanwhile, truffle dealers Guillaume Pons and his father are both running for mayor in a heated climate where Socialists, Communists, and Greens are vying for control. And if all that were not enough, Bruno’s girlfriend, a British ex-pat, appears to be falling for Guillaume.
Reviewers were unanimous in praising Black Diamond. Remarking that the series is “consistently charming,” a Booklist contributor admired the character of Bruno, calling him “endearingly human and worldly wise.” Other reviewers focused on the French setting of the novel. A Publishers Weekly contributor lauded the novel’s “Gallic charm” and concluded: “Walker’s unmistakable affection for the ‘enchanting Perigord’ makes every morsel of this cozy-cum-crime novel a savory delight.” Writing in the Independent Online, Rebecca Armstrong as well gave high marks to the “Gallic charm that Walker conjures so effortlessly.” Armstrong also praised the novel’s “brisk and brutal conclusion” and called the book “a well-crafted crime novel that cautions against blind belief in people and their motives.”
Once again, problem piles onto problem in the fourth volume in the series, The Crowded Grave. The radical animal-rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is attacking local farms where geese are raised for foie gras. Bruno’s new magistrate is a feminist vegetarian who regards the farming of geese for the French delicacy as cruel and barbaric. Then, after the skeleton of an apparent murder victim from the 1980s turns up in an archaeological dig that has attracted an influx of foreign visitors to the region, the professor conducting the dig disappears. A planned summit between French and Spanish officials about terrorism at the hands of Basque separatists raises security concerns for Bruno.
Like the other entries in the series, this one was greeted with high praise. A reviewer for the Female First Web site called the novel “a compelling mystery, laced with charm and a deep knowledge and love of France, past and present.” A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote: “Walker hits the sweet spot of balancing humor and drama.” And Michele Leber, writing in Booklist, praised the novel for its “action-packed climax” and its “prevailing atmosphere of dappled sunlight and good food and wine and friends.”
Further series installments include The Devil’s Cave, The Resistance Man, The Children Return, and The Patriarch. In the latter, Bruno heads from a party held for Colonel Jean-Marc Desaix and goes to visit the Red Countess. The next morning, the mayor calls Bruno and informs him that Jean-Marc’s party came to a tragic end; Colonel Gilbert Clamartin has died. Gilbert was a wild alcoholic, and most assume the death was natural, but Bruno suspects foul play.
Most critics praised the story, but a Kirkus Reviews contributor observed: “The mystery, though eminently predictable, is as conscientious as ever. As usual … however, it’s the details of the good life in the Dordogne that linger longest in the memory.” Connie Fletcher, writing in Booklist, was far more positive, and she announced that “the ending is absolutely amazing.” Echoing this sentiment in the online Open Letters Monthly, Irma Heldman remarked: “As [Bruno] navigates the intricacies of the Patriarch’s family, he exposes secrets that illuminate the dangerous course he is on. The climax is, quite simply, a doozy!” Heldman went on to conclude that “Walker’s Bruno novels are as delicious as the world class meals his chief of police whips up and as intoxicating as the wines he serves.” Indeed, a Publishers Weekly columnist asserted that The Patriarch presents “a skillful blend of complex international political nuance and pastoral intrigue.”
[open new]In Fatal Pursuit, joint festivities between St. Denis and the Alsatian town of Marckolsheim involve a classic car parade, a race, and a hunt for a priceless auto, a Bugatti, that disappeared during World War II. When a local researcher turns up dead, Bruno discerns a connection to an international crime ring. A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that “history buffs, racing fans, and automobile aficionados will find plenty to love, and the mystery is intriguing.” Acknowledging that the “glories of the Dordogne region” and “sumptuously evoked” meals are the series’ primary draws, Booklist reviewer Connie Fletcher found in Fatal Pursuit “a feast, from scenery to food to Bugattis.”
The Templars’ Last Secret finds Bruno investigating the fall of a French-born Israeli woman from an ancient fortress’s ramparts while writing graffiti seeming to evoke the Testament of Iftikhar, an ancient document holding Muslim claims to Jerusalem to be fraudulent. Her death is tied to questions of abuse at an orphanage decades earlier and the fatal torture of a Templar scholar. A Kirkus Reviews writer reckoned this novel “just the thing for readers hungry for a banquet of epicurean pleasures, ancient history, international terrorism, and holy matrimony.”
Turning up murdered in A Taste for Vengeance is Monika Felder, who failed to show up for a cooking class and is found in the house of her Irish acquaintance—who is found hanged outside. The scene suggests murder-suicide, but double murder seems more likely as links to the Troubles and a million-dollar heist surface. A Kirkus Reviews writer remarked, “Walker’s latest is replete with incident, but like the frequent dinners his hero prepares …, its abundance seems just one more testimony to the richness of the region.”
Missing American art student Claudia Muller is found deceased in The Body in the Castle Well, with drug use suggesting an accident. But the scholar with whom she was studying has a conspicuously valuable art collection, and Claudia was seen in the company of a certified criminal, muddying the waters. Fletcher observed in Booklist that with his Bruno novels Walker “always delivers a live-wire plot, well-realized characters …, and an incredibly varied setting—this time, he throws in some expertise in medieval falconry.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer was inspired to hail Bruno as a “horseback-riding and dog-loving master chef whose calm professional practicality pulls the reader into the well-developed … crime story.”
In The Shooting at Château Rock a humble sheep farmer’s untimely death raises questions about the mortgage and insurance policy he recently took out. As Bruno visits the villa of aging rock star Rod Macrae for family festivities, he realizes that Rod’s son’s girlfriend’s Russian oligarch of a father may be heinously involved. Observing that “Bruno Courreges investigates an insurance scam as languidly as only he can,” a Kirkus Reviews writer characterized The Shooting at Château Rock as “falling-off-the-bone French at its ne plus ultra.”
Walker’s ensuing “Bruno, Chief of Police” novels continued to impress reviewers as much with the aesthetic pleasures of French cuisine and countryside as with the mysteries at hand. With Bruno using facial reconstruction to link a past bludgeoning victim to a winemaker, a vocational school, and East German spies in The Coldest Case, a Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that “fans of lighter police procedurals will be well satisfied.” Bruno tries to prevent the murder of a muscial advocate for Catalonian independence by Spanish nationalists in To Kill a Troubadour, which led a Publishers Weekly reviewer to suggest, “Good food, fascinating history, and a crackerjack mystery: who could ask for more?”
The success of the Bruno books—which in 2021 won Walker the Prix Charbonnier for services to French culture—with their delectable focus on gourmandism prompted Walker to collaborate with his wife, Julia Watson, on Bruno’s Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen. The volume collects ninety recipes, including dishes featured in the novels, classified according to the source of leading ingredients, whether vegetable plot, cheesemaker, hunter, fisherman, or elsewhere. Recipes include walnut and green olive tapenade, red onion tarte tatin, gratin of mussels with parsley and garlic, and yogurt mousse in a strawberry sauce. Library Journal reviewer John Charles commended Bruno’s Cookbook as “written with a generous measure of culinary joie de vivre and a keen appreciation for the people and culture of Perigord.”[close new]
Commenting on his inspiration for the “Bruno, Chief of Police” series in a Washington Independent Review of Books interview with Michael Causey, Walker explained: “For 15 years, we have had a house in the Périgord region of France, where I came across a wonderful character, my tennis partner and dear friend, Pierrot. He is also our town policeman, a great cook, and a hunter. He’s my guide and teacher on French cooking, hunting, how to train dogs, make jam, and enjoy the splendidly relaxed and convivial way of life.” The author added: “He’s a man who understands the difference between the law and justice, and he keeps the peace in an admirably low-key way. He’s older, married, and quite a bit plumper than Bruno, but, like Bruno, he’s a former soldier who spends his spare time teaching schoolchildren to play rugby and tennis. We have no crime, because all the kids grew up knowing him and would hate to disappoint him. It made me want to write about someone wise and civilized like that, and the first Bruno book followed.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Armor, May-June, 2004, Jayson A. Altieri, “The Iraq War,” review of The Iraq War as Witnessed by the Correspondents and Photographers of United Press International, p. 50.
Best Seller, April, 1979, review of The Infiltrator, p. 11.
Booklist, October 15, 1978, review of The Infiltrator, p. 356; January 15, 1987, review of The Waking Giant: Gorbachev’s Russia, p. 730; May 15, 1994, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Cold War: A History, p. 1663; May 15, 1994, review of The Cold War, p. 1663; October 15, 1998, Gilbert Taylor, review of The President We Deserve: Bill Clinton: His Rise, Falls, and Comebacks, p. 396; May 1, 2000, Gilbert Taylor, review of America Reborn: A Twentieth-Century Narrative in Twenty-Six Lives, p. 1648; March 1, 2002, Carrie Bissey, review of The Caves of Perigord, p. 1094; May 1, 2010, Allison Block, review of The Dark Vineyard: A Case for Bruno, Chief of Police, p. 22; August 1, 2011, Allison Block, review of Black Diamond, p. 26; May 1, 2012, Michele Leber, review of The Crowded Grave, p. 26; May 1, 2013, Connie Fletcher, review of The Devil’s Cave, p. 26; January 1, 2014, Connie Fletcher, review of The Resistance Man, p. 52; February 15, 2015, Connie Fletcher, review of The Children Return, p. 35; July 1, 2015, Connie Fletcher, review of The Patriarch, p. 39; March 1, 2016, Connie Fletcher, review of Fatal Pursuit, p. 44; May 15, 2017, Connie Fletcher, review of The Templars’ Last Secret, p. 22; May 1, 2018, Connie Fletcher, review of A Taste for Vengeance, p. 37; May 1, 2019, Connie Fletcher, review of The Body in the Castle Well, p. 24; April 1, 2020, Connie Fletcher, review of The Shooting at Château Rock, p. 28; June 1, 2021, Connie Fletcher, review of The Coldest Case, p. 40; February 1, 2022, Connie Fletcher, review of Bruno’s Challenge: And Other Stories of the French Countryside, p. 21; July 1, 2022, Connie Fletcher, review of To Kill a Troubadour, p. 25; July 1, 2023, Connie Fletcher, review of A Château under Siege, p. 22; October 1, 2023, Barbara Jacobs, review of Bruno’s Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen, p. 18.
Books & Bookman, July, 1977, review of The National Front, p. 12.
Book World, June 12, 1994, review of The Cold War, p. 4.
British Book News, January, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 55; September, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 589.
Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, October, 1994, review of The Cold War, p. 356.
Christian Science Monitor, March 5, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 23; September 28, 1994, Leonard Bushkoff, review of The Cold War, p. 13.
Contemporary Review, March, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 167.
Entertainment Weekly, March 18, 2009, Julia Holmes, review of Bruno, Chief of Police.
Foreign Affairs, September-October, 1994, Francis Fukuyama, review of The Cold War, p. 142.
Foreign Policy, winter, 1994, Adam Yarmolinsky, review of The Cold War, p. 158.
Guardian Weekly, May 29, 1977, review of The National Front, p. 22; November 23, 1986, review of The Waking Giant, p. 21; October 10, 1993, review of The Cold War, p. 29.
History: Review of New Books, spring, 1995, review of The Cold War, p. 138.
History Today, October, 1993, review of The Cold War, p. 56; February, 1995, David Ryan, review of The Cold War and the Making of the Modern World, p. 56.
Independent Weekly (Adelaide, South Australia, Australia), August 31, 2009, Teri Louise Kelly, review of The Dark Vineyard.
International Affairs, spring, 1987, Peter Kneen, review of The Waking Giant, p. 328; April, 1994, Paul Cornish, review of The Cold War and the Making of the Modern World, p. 305.
International Journal, autumn, 2005, Yvonne Murray, “The Fall of Baghdad,” review of The Iraq War as Witnessed by the Correspondents and Photographers of United Press International, p. 1182.
Journal of American History, September, 1995, Krzysztof Michalek, review of The Cold War, p. 821.
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 1994, review of The Cold War; February 15, 2002, review of The Caves of Perigord, p. 218; January 1, 2009, review of Bruno, Chief of Police; August 15, 2011, review of Black Diamond; July 1, 2013, review of The Devil’s Cave; February 15, 2014, review of The Resistance Man; February 15, 2015, review of The Children Return; June 1, 2015, review of The Patriarch; April 1, 2016, review of Fatal Pursuit; May 1, 2017, review of The Templars’ Last Secret; April 1, 2018, review of A Taste for Vengeance; April 1, 2019, review of The Body in the Castle Well; March 15, 2020, review of The Shooting at Château Rock; June 1, 2021, review of The Coldest Case; September 1, 2024, review of A Grave in the Woods;
Kliatt, January, 1989, review of The Waking Giant, p. 49.
Library Journal, June 1, 1994, Ed Goedeken, review of The Cold War, p. 134; August, 1996, Karl Helicher, review of The President We Deserve, p. 93; May 1, 2000, Edward Gibson, review of America Reborn, p. 134; November, 2023, review of Bruno’s Cookbook, p. 74.
Listener, January 11, 1979, review of The Infiltrator, p. 62.
London Review of Books, December 4, 1986, review of The Waking Giant, p. 19.
New Republic, August 15, 1994, Jacob Heilbrunn, review of The Cold War, p. 31.
New Statesman, May 13, 1977, review of The National Front, p. 643; March 10, 1978, Stephen Koss, review of Daily Sketches: A Cartoon History of Twentieth-Century Britain, p. 327; November 28, 1986, Alec Nove, review of The Waking Giant, p. 24.
New Statesman & Society, September 10, 1993, Maurice Walsh, review of The Cold War, p. 39.
New Yorker, April 13, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 105.
New York Times, February 4, 1979, Newgate Callendar, review of The Infiltrator, p. 22; September 22, 1996, Douglas Brinkley, “A Postrevolutionary Man”; August 20, 2000, Adam Hochschild, “The Way We Were.”
New York Times Book Review, February 4, 1979, review of The Infiltrator, p. 22; July 30, 1995, review of The Cold War, p. 20; September 22, 1996, Douglas Brinkley, review of The President We Deserve, p. 14; September 4, 2011, Marilyn Stasio, “A Piece of the Action,” p. 23.
Observer, November 23, 1986, review of The Waking Giant, p. 31; September 12, 1993, review of The Cold War, p. 53.
Orbis, fall, 1987, Vladimir Tismaneanu, review of The Waking Giant, p. 407.
Publishers Weekly, July 1, 1996, review of The President We Deserve, p. 48; May 1, 2000, review of America Reborn, p. 60; February 25, 2002, review of The Caves of Perigord, p. 42; January 5, 2009, review of Bruno, Chief of Police, p. 36; June 27, 2011, review of Black Diamond, p. 138; May 7, 2012, review of The Crowded Grave, p. 33; June 3, 2013, review of The Devil’s Cave, p. 39; December 23, 2013, review of The Resistance Man, p. 33; February 2, 2015, review of The Children Return, p. 37; June 8, 2015, review of The Patriarch, p. 37; February 29, 2016, review of Fatal Pursuit, p. 38; April 24, 2017, review of The Templars’ Last Secret, p. 67; April 2, 2018, Stephanie Cabot, review of A Taste for Vengeance, p. 46; March 11, 2019, review of The Body in the Castle Well, p. 35; March 16, 2020, review of The Shooting at Château Rock, p. 52; March 1, 2021, review of The Coldest Case, p. 44; January 31, 2022, review of Bruno’s Challenge, p. 53; May 30, 2022, review of To Kill a Troubadour, p. 41; November 20, 2023, review of Bruno’s Cookbook, p. 79; July 22, 2024, review of A Grave in the Woods, p. 44.
Reference & Research Book News, December, 1994, review of The Cold War, p. 6; May, 2004, review of The Iraq War as Witnessed by the Correspondents and Photographers of United Press International, p. 46.
Shots, March, 2008, Judith Cutler, review of Bruno, Chief of Police; April, 2008, “Martin Walker on Bruno.”
Spectator, June 11, 1977, review of The National Front, p. 22; July 19, 1980, review of A Mercenary Calling, p. 23; July 18, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 28.
Times Educational Supplement, March 6, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 34; November 12, 1993, Helen Szamuely, review of The Cold War.
Times Literary Supplement, May 27, 1977, review of The National Front, p. 641; July 21, 1978, review of The Infiltrator, p. 817; February 6, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 129; February 11, 1994, Michael Howard, review of The Cold War and the Making of the Modern World, p. 5; August 20, 2010, A.P.D. Lawrie, review of Black Diamond, p. 22.
Virginia Quarterly Review, summer, 1987, review of The Waking Giant, p. 98.
Wall Street Journal Western Edition, March 23, 1987, Henry S. Rowen, review of The Waking Giant, p. 22.
ONLINE
Bruno, Chief of Police Web site, http://www.brunochiefofpolice.com (December 9, 2015).
Euro Crime, http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/ (September 22, 2009), Maxine Clarke, review of Bruno, Chief of Police.
Female First, http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/ (September 20, 2011), Joclyn Manners, review of The Crowded Grave.
Globalist, http://www.theglobalist.com/ (October 20, 2003), “Martin Walker Chief International Correspondent for United Press International.”
Independent Online, http://www.independent.co.uk/ (August 22, 2010), Rebecca Armstrong, review of Black Diamond.
Open Letters Monthly, http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/ (December 9, 2015), Irma Heldman, review of The Patriarch.
Washington Independent Review of Books, http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/ (December 9, 2015), Michael Causey, author interview.*
Martin Walker
UK flag (b.1947)
Martin Walker is the Senior Director of the Global Business Policy Council (GBPC). Walker has written several books. He is the author of the 'Bruno' detective series set in the Périgord region of France, where Walker has a holiday home.
Genres: Cozy Mystery
New and upcoming books
June 2025
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An Enemy in the Village
(Bruno, Chief of Police, book 18)
Series
Bruno, Chief of Police
1. Death in the Dordogne (2008)
aka Bruno, Chief of Police
2. The Dark Vineyard (2009)
3. Black Diamond (2010)
4. The Crowded Grave (2011)
5. The Devil's Cave (2012)
5.5. Bruno and the Carol Singers (2012)
aka Bruno and le Pere Noel
6. The Resistance Man (2013)
7. Death Undercover (2014)
aka The Children Return / Children of War
7.5. A Market Tale (2014)
8. The Patriarch (2015)
9. Fatal Pursuit (2016)
10. Templars' Last Secret (2017)
11. A Taste for Vengeance (2018)
11.5. The Chocolate War (2018)
A Birthday Lunch (2019)
12. The Body in the Castle Well (2019)
Oystercatcher (2020)
13. The Shooting at Chateau Rock (2020)
14. The Coldest Case (2021)
Bruno's Challenge: And Other Stories of the French Countryside (2021)
15. To Kill a Troubadour (2022)
16. A Chateau Under Siege (2023)
17. A Grave in the Woods (2024)
18. An Enemy in the Village (2025)
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Novels
The Infiltrator (1978)
A Mercenary Calling (1980)
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martin Walker
Born 1947 (age 76–77)
Scotland, UK
Occupation Reporter and novelist
Nationality British
Period 1971–present
Genre Non-fiction (history), crime fiction
Martin Walker (born 1947) is the author of the popular Bruno detective series. After working at The Guardian from 1971 to 1999, Walker joined United Press International (UPI) in 2000 as an international correspondent in Washington, D.C., and is now editor-in-chief emeritus of UPI. He was a member of A.T. Kearney's Global Business Policy Council.
Life
Martin Walker was educated at Harrow County School for Boys and Balliol College, Oxford. He lives in the Périgord/Dordogne in Southern France with his wife with whom he has two daughters.[1][2]
Walker was on the staff of The Guardian from around 1971, working in a variety of positions, including bureau chief in Moscow and the United States, European editor, and assistant editor.[3] One of the unsuccessful candidates for the editorship of The Guardian in 1995, when Alan Rusbridger was appointed in succession to Peter Preston,[4] Walker resigned in 1999 after 28 years with the newspaper.[5]
Walker joined United Press International (UPI) in 2000. While at UPI he was also an international correspondent. He is now editor-in-chief emeritus of UPI. He also holds a variety of other positions, including senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.; senior fellow of the World Policy Institute at The New School in New York; member of the board of directors of the Global Panel Foundation (Berlin, Copenhagen, Prague, Sydney and Toronto). He is also a contributing editor of the Los Angeles Times's Opinion section and of Europe magazine. Walker also is a regular commentator on CNN, Inside Washington and NPR.[1]
Works
Walker has written several non-fiction books, including The National Front,[6] Waking Giant: Gorbachev and Perestroika, The Cold War: A History, Clinton: The President They Deserve and America Reborn.
He's also written the historical thriller, The Caves of Perigord (2002).
Bruno, Chief of Police
Walker is the author of the Bruno detective series set in the Périgord region of France, where he has a home. The novels depict an unconventional village policeman, Benoît "Bruno" Courrèges, a passionate cook and former soldier who was wounded on a peacekeeping mission in the Balkans, who never carries his official gun, and who has "long since lost the key to his handcuffs".
Bruno, Chief of Police. Quercus, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-84724-507-6
The Dark Vineyard. Quercus, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-84724-915-9
Black Diamond. Quercus, London 2010, ISBN 978-0-85738-053-1
The Crowded Grave. Quercus, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-84916-321-7
The Devil's Cave. Quercus, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-78087-068-7
"Bruno and the Carol Singers". Vintage, New York 2012, ISBN 9780385350310 (short story)
The Resistance Man. Quercus, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78087-072-4
Children of War. Quercus, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-84866-402-9 (US title: The Children Return)
The Dying Season. Quercus, London 2015, ISBN 978-1-84866-405-0 (US title: The Patriarch)
"A Market Tale". Vintage, New York 2014, ISBN 9781101873977 (short story)
Fatal Pursuit. Quercus, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-78429-457-1
The Templars' Last Secret. Quercus, London 2017, ISBN 978-1-78429-466-3
A Taste for Vengeance Knopf, New York 2018, ISBN 978-0-52551-996-6
"The Chocolate War". Vintage, New York 2018, ISBN 9780525564539 (short story)
"A Birthday Lunch". Knopf, New York 2019, ISBN 9781984897640 (short story)
The Body in the Castle Well. Knopf, New York 2019, ISBN 978-0-52551-998-0
"Oystercatcher". Vintage, New York 2020, ISBN 9780593311400 (short story)
The Shooting at Chateau Rock. Knopf, New York 2020, ISBN 9780525656654 (released May 26, 2020)
The Coldest Case. Knopf, New York 2021, ISBN 9780525656678 (released August 3, 2021)
To Kill a Troubadour. Knopf, New York 2022, ISBN 9780593319796 (released August 9, 2022)
A Chateau Under Siege. Knopf, New York 2024, ISBN 9780593319819 (released August 29, 2023)
Prizes
2021: Prix Charbonnier[7]
Fatal Pursuit: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel
Martin Walker. Knopf, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-101-94678-7
Walker's engaging ninth mystery featuring police chief Bruno Courreges (after 2015's The Patriarch) finds the residents of St. Denis, France, commemorating their relationship with their Alsatian twin town of Marckolsheim. The festivities, which include a classic car parade and a rally car race, have attracted many tourists, including two men hunting for a priceless Bugatti that vanished during WWII. Bruno is preoccupied with his role as a rally car navigator, until a local historian hired to research the Bugatti is murdered. Mediation of a family feud and surveillance of suspected money launderers compound Bruno's work load, but he still finds time to ride horses, woo attractive women, and consume copious amounts of good food and fine wine. Bruno's day-to-day business occasionally eclipses the plot, but that's hardly cause for complaint given the idyllic picture Walker paints of life in the Perigord region. History buffs, racing fans, and automobile aficionados will find plenty to love, and the mystery is intriguing even if it doesn't fully satisfy. Agent'. Stephanie Cabot, Felicity Bryan Associates. (June)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
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"Fatal Pursuit: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel." Publishers Weekly, vol. 263, no. 9, 29 Feb. 2016, p. 38. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A446636006/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=624c328d. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Fatal Pursuit. By Martin Walker. June 2016. 320p. Knopf, $25.95 (9781101946787).
The chief subject of Walker's mysteries, the glories of the Dordogne region of southwestern France, never varies, and it never grows old, not even over the span of the long-running series. That's because Walker so vividly describes the variegated pastoral landscape, with its cliffs, woods, ancient villages, twisty roads, and prehistoric caves (the most famous being Lascaux). Yes, but Walker saves his poetry for describing food. His hero, Bruno Courreges, chief of police in the town of St. Denis, is always scouting out local markets, meeting friends for sumptuously evoked lunches and dinners; of course, he cooks, too, and the preparation of his own locally sourced dinners for friends or lovers is detailed in the lovingly precise manner of Robert B. Parkers Spenser. Walker mixes in murder and intrigue as well, but crime operates more as a side dish. In this, the ninth Bruno, Chief of Police, novel, a vintage-car rally (filled with sensuous details of the cars and the experience of driving them) leads to Bruno's learning about how one of the most famous cars of all time, a Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic, went missing during WWII somewhere in France. He also contends with the murder of a local scholar, whose work may offer clues to the vanished Bugatti. The mystery uncovers traces of an international crime ring in St. Denis, and offers rich views of the Resistance. A feast, from scenery to food to Bugattis.--Connie Fletcher
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
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Fletcher, Connie. "Fatal Pursuit." Booklist, vol. 112, no. 13, 1 Mar. 2016, pp. 44+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A447443567/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=080fef12. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Walker, Martin FATAL PURSUIT Knopf (Adult Fiction) $25.95 6, 30 ISBN: 978-1-101-94678-7
St. Denis chief of police Bruno Courreges (The Children Return, 2015, etc.) turns his attention from cabbages to cars. The Concours de Elegance brings a bevy of classic beauties to the Perigord. Jack Crimson dusts off his Jaguar Mark 2. Horst, a German architect, helps his friend Clothilde emerge from her Porsche Speedster. Bruno's friend Annette sits at the wheel of her Jaguar S-type, her English friend George Young beside her. Sylvestre Wemy drives his Bugatti from Marckolsheim. Fabiola shows off her Renault Zoe electric car, and town councilor Alphonse drives a Kango. But none of these automotive wonders can hold a candle to the Bugatti Type 57C, known as the Atlantic. Only four of the cars were ever produced: one is owned by Ralph Lauren, one was destroyed, one is in a California museum, and the fourth was lost in World War II while being driven across France. Since the Atlantic's path would have taken it through Perigord, and arguably near St. Denis, the car aficionados' interests are piqued. At the peak of all piques are Sylvestre and George Young, and their dogged curiosity makes Bruno wonder just how far they might go to track down the car of their dreams. Bruno has other things on his mind. Young Felix, son of a local cleaning lady, is caught shoplifting, someone wings a pebble at a horseback rider, and elderly historical researcher Henri-Pierre Hugon is found dead in his study. Plus, the always-indispensible lunar almanac tells Bruno when it's time to plant, and his neighbors' daughter, Martine, provides a delightful distraction all her own. But the lost Atlantic keeps drifting through his inner landscape until murder gives its disappearance a new urgency. Walker's latest Bruno adventure has a lighter touch than earlier entries but offers as pleasing a puzzle as any.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Walker, Martin: FATAL PURSUIT." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2016. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A447747915/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ef47c0ac. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
The Templars' Last Secret: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel
Martin Walker. Knopf, $25.95 (336p)
ISBN 978-1-101-94680-0
In Walker's deftly plotted 10th mystery starring St. Denis, France, police chief Benoit "Bruno" Courreges (after 2016's Fatal Pursuit), the small-town cop with a knack for stumbling onto big I cases rolls into action when an unidentified woman takes a fatal fall from the ramparts of an ancient fortress, apparently before she could I finish painting graffiti there that may relate to the medieval order of the Knights Templar. With a Ministry of Justice observer in tow, Bruno displays brisk competence and amiable perceptiveness as he investigates what becomes a murder case. Prehistoric cave art, Crusader tales, and modern Islamic terrorism all figure into the crime, with each getting expository treatment that can be a little labored, even when written crisply. Series fans will happily note Walker's customary appreciation for local wines, food, and culture, and his bemused explanations of French bureaucracy, though some readers may find the novel's climax, by the prehistoric painted caves of Lascaux, slightly rushed and overheated. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Felicity Bryan Associates. (June)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Templars' Last Secret: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel." Publishers Weekly, vol. 264, no. 17, 24 Apr. 2017, pp. 67+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A491250801/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e0e07f2d. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Walker, Martin THE TEMPLARS' LAST SECRET Knopf (Adult Fiction) $25.95 6, 13 ISBN: 978-1-101-94680-0
The good life in the Perigord countryside is menaced by pedophiles, terrorists, torturers, and a visiting magistrate from Paris.Does he need to buy a new suit for the wedding of his 60-something friends, museum curator Dr. Clothilde Daumier and archaeological consultant professor Horst Vogelstern? St. Denis Police Chief Bruno Courreges (Fatal Pursuit, 2016, etc.) only wishes that were his biggest problem. But the newspapers are full of reports alleging sex abuse at the Mussidan orphanage 30 years ago, based on testimony obtained under hypnosis by psychologist Marie-France Duteiller, though the evidence has been questioned by Chief Detective Jean-Jacques Jalipeau. A more urgent report comes from the Chateau Commarque, a magnificent but half-ruined structure on the road to Sarlat. The body of an unidentified woman has been found beneath a wall she seems to have fallen from in the course of painting the letters I, F, T, I. The discovery that the dead woman is Leah Ben-Ari, an Israeli born in France as Leah Wolinsky, and the theory that her graffiti refers to the Testament of Iftikhar, a centuries-old document that purports to expose Muslim claims to Jerusalem as fraudulent, only deepens the mystery. Why had Leah come to this out-of-the-way place to make her statement? How to parse her long relationship with Palestinian Said al-Husayni, and how is she connected to the terrorists who tortured noted Templar scholar Auguste Dumesnil to the point of death? What effect will the suicide of an elderly nun who pressed the police to investigate at the orphanage have on the Mussidan case? And how will Bruno ever find time in the midst of this swirling intrigue to wine and dine lovely Guadeloupe-born magistrate Amelie Plessis, who, sent by the Ministry of Justice to look over his shoulder, recommends that he set up a Facebook account? Just the thing for readers hungry for a banquet of epicurean pleasures, ancient history, international terrorism, and holy matrimony. More timid souls who crave a less incongruous mix may want to wait till next year.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Walker, Martin: THE TEMPLARS' LAST SECRET." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A491002950/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=95392d82. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
The Templars' Last Secret. By Martin Walker. June 2017.336p. Knopf, $25.95 (9781101946800); e-book (9781101946817).
Walker's Bruno, chief of police, mysteries are like the ideal European vacation: loaded with inspiring sights, good companions, and memorable meals (and there's murder, too!). Spend time with Bruno, his dog, horses, friends, and farmhouse in the tiny village of St. Denis in the Perigord region of rural France, and you feel as if your own life has been enhanced. The latest Bruno novel, the tenth in the series, serves up the usual heady flavors of mystery and setting but also explores the archaeology of the region, extending back to the famous Lascaux cave paintings. What drives the story into the past, including the history of the Knights Templar, is the discovery of the body of an archaeologist, a pregnant woman who either fell or was pushed from a wall of an ancient, ruined chateau. Bruno's investigation is aided and enlivened by the participation of a young Haitian magistrate from Paris. Together, they discover that the woman who died trying to scale the wall was probably murdered as she sought a religious artifact tied to the Middle East, the possession of which could have deadly repercussions. The latest Bruno features a complicated but enjoyable plot, a rich knowledge of archaeology, and the reliable pleasures of Bruno's region, including scenery, Bergerac wine, and knockout dining (Bruno himself will remind some readers of Robert B. Parker's Spenser, in his attentive cooking). Another feast for mystery and food lovers.--Connie Fletcher
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
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Fletcher, Connie. "The Templars' Last Secret." Booklist, vol. 113, no. 18, 15 May 2017, p. 22. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A496084763/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3c85a398. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Walker, Martin A TASTE FOR VENGEANCE Knopf (Adult Fiction) $26.95 6, 14 ISBN: 978-0-525-51996-6
A promotion comes with a host of challenges for the Perigord region's Bruno Courreges (The Templar's Last Secret, 2017, etc.).
As chief of police for the tiny Dordogne village of St. Denis, Bruno used to serve more as a town policeman, going to the square on market days to kiss the babies and chat with their grandmeres. He even had time to coach the local women's rugby team. But now that he's been promoted to chief of police of the entire Vezere Valley, he's facing the challenges that come with greater responsibility. He needs to ride herd on Louis, the town policeman in Montignac, who spends too much time in the local bars, and to mentor young, ambitious Juliette Robard, who just replaced the sole policewoman in Les Eyzies. He also needs to negotiate the unorthodox chain of command in rural France. Prunier, the commissaire de police for the Dordogne departement, thinks that Bruno now works for him, but the Mayor of St. Denis is convinced that Bruno is still his subordinate. Bruno's delicate calculations about whom he reports to and who reports to him become all the more stressful when an Englishwoman is found dead in Lalinde, definitely outside his old remit in St. Denis. Monika Felder left Gatwick for France to take a cooking course offered by Bruno's friends Pamela and Miranda but never arrived. Her body is discovered in a cabin belonging to Patrick James McBride, a mysterious Irishman who owns a local vineyard and whose travels to Amsterdam, Florence, and Dubai suggest that he's not a typical French winemaker. And if adjusting to his new role and solving his latest case weren't enough, Bruno finds out that Paulette, a star of his rugby team with a decent shot at making the national squad, is unexpectedly pregnant.
Walker's latest is replete with incident, but like the frequent dinners his hero prepares for friends, paying guests, and the occasional visiting FBI agent, its abundance seems just one more testimony to the richness of the region.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Walker, Martin: A TASTE FOR VENGEANCE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A532700484/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=cd235bc3. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
A Taste for Vengeance: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel
Martin Walker. Knopf, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-525-51996-6
Bruno Courreges, the police chief of the Dordogne village of St. Denis, goes looking for English tourist Monika Felder after she fails to show up for a cooking class in Walker's entertaining 11th series mystery (after 2017's The Templars' Last Secret). Bruno learns that Monika, who left her husband back in England, was traveling with Patrick McBride, an Irishman with a house in the area. Monika turns up at the house, fatally stabbed in the bathroom; McBride's body is found hanging from a tree in the nearby woods. What at first appears to be a murder-suicide proves to be a double homicide involving more than one killer and with links to a multi-million-dollar theft in Iraq and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The efficient Bruno also manages to help one of the women's rugby players he's coached since childhood sort out some serious problems, run through some favorite Dordogne recipes while teaching a cooking class, and continue his on-again, off-again romance with a former colleague. Walker's formula for regional crime fiction still appeals, though this outing's global elements are something of a stretch. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Felicity Bryan Associates. (June)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
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Cabot, Stephanie. "A Taste for Vengeance: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel." Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 14, 2 Apr. 2018, p. 46. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A533555601/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=858b3fb7. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
* A Taste for Vengeance.
By Martin Walker.
June 2018. 352p. Knopf, $25.95 (9780525519966).
Setting and cuisine far outshine plot in Walker's to-die-for atmospheric mysteries set in the Dordogne region of France. Some of the novels in this series are subtitled Mysteries of the French Countryside, more fitting than the Bruno, Chief of Police Novel used for others. In each, Walker's descriptions of the region's caves (and the new Lascaux cave re-creation), vineyards, farmhouses, gardens, and chateaus, along with his sensually detailed accounts of lovingly created meals paired with the region's wines, take center stage. Readers should come for the atmosphere, with the action serving as appetizer. And Bruno Courreges, the police chief of St. Denis (and now the Vezere Valley), is wonderful to watch as he makes his daily rounds of horseback riding, dining out with friends in villages, and cooking. (At one point here, Bruno meets police colleagues for a working picnic on the grounds of a chateau.) This time, a British woman, late for a cooking vacation hosted by one of Bruno's ex-lovers, turns up dead in a picturesque farmhouse, her traveling companion found hanged in a tree outside. Police conjectures expand from murder-suicide to double murder and a plot involving intelligence and scandal. Fans of the late Robert B. Parker's Spenser series (where love of cooking infused each mystery) will find a new home with the gourmand Bruno.--Connie Fletcher
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
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Fletcher, Connie. "A Taste for Vengeance." Booklist, vol. 114, no. 17, 1 May 2018, p. 37. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A539647259/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1eba0ad7. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
The Body in the Castle Well: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel
Martin Walker. Knopf, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-525-51998-0
The disappearance of American Claudia Muller, an art history student, drives Walker's satisfying 14th outing for French chief of police Benoit "Bruno" Courreges (after 2018's A Taste for Vengeance). When Claudia's body is found in a well in Bruno's small town of St. Denis, the preliminary autopsy leads the authorities to believe her death was an accident. Drugs may have been a contributing factor. Claudia was studying with a noted art scholar who was possibly engaged in shady dealings related to his valuable art collection. She was also seen in the presence of a man recently released from prison. Was her death a simple misfortune or something more sinister? The book's main strength is the intrepid Bruno, a horseback-riding and dog-loving master chef whose calm professional practicality pulls the reader into the well-developed, if familiar, crime story. Whether he's preparing a gourmet dinner, enjoying a glass of wine, or solving a murder, it's a pleasure to be in Bruno's company. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Co. (June)
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"The Body in the Castle Well: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 10, 11 Mar. 2019, p. 35. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A580472669/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=325adc3f. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Walker, Martin THE BODY IN THE CASTLE WELL Knopf (Adult Fiction) $25.95 6, 4 ISBN: 978-0-525-51998-0
Lt. Bruno Courreges asks how a visiting American student could have ended up in a well in the peaceful, yet strangely homicidal, Perigord village of St. Denis.
All too soon after she's reported missing, Bruno finds Claudia Muller, an art history Ph.D. student at Yale, in a disused well in the courtyard of the Limeuil castle along with a cat who's lucky enough to still be alive. Did cat-loving Claudia climb into the inadequately protected well to rescue the animal and end up tumbling in herself? Was she impaired by the drugs in her system? Or did someone deliberately toss her in? Suspicion quickly focuses on two men: Laurent Darrignac, the falconer who met and befriended her the very day he was released from a 10-year prison sentence for killing three Boy Scouts in a drunken driving accident, and Pierre de Bourdeille, the legendary art expert with whom Claudia had been working. On the face of it, both choices seem impossible: Laurent, who professed sincere repentance for the accident that jailed him, had clearly been attached to Claudia, and it's not obvious how de Bourdeille, a 90-something-year-old disabled by the bullet that made him a hero of the Resistance and confined for years to a wheelchair, would have had either the temperament or the physical ability to commit the crime. But the case is complicated by the news that Claudia had questioned some of her mentor's attributions, striking at his formidable reputation, and de Bourdeille's plan to leave his collection to the town of St. Denis, depriving his longtime housekeeper, Nathalie Bonnet, of the inheritance she'd grown to expect. Walker weaves the details of Bruno's unruffled investigation together with all the obligatory social rituals fans of the series (A Taste for Vengeance, 2018, etc.) have come to expect.
A detective story whose dramatic trajectory is marked less by its rising suspense than by the increasingly elaborate meals consumed by the hero, who prepares one of its most endearing menus for the sometime lover who's just spent the night with him.
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"Walker, Martin: THE BODY IN THE CASTLE WELL." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A580520952/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ad97ce0c. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
* The Body in the Castle Well. By Martin Walker.
June 2019. 352p. Knopf, $25.95 (9780525519980); e-book, $12.99 (9780525519997).
Bruno Courreges, municipal policeman for the village of St. Denis and chief of police for the Vezere Valley in France's Dordogne, has an enviable life, one that often starts with a morning horseback ride, continues with croissants at his favorite cafe, lunch with friends at a picturesque bistro, dinner consisting of locally sourced food from his own farm, and visits from women who are former lovers and still occasional bed partners. The mysteries that come his way don't upset his routine; in fact, Bruno's cozy web of friends and wide interests help solve them, often from something
It said at the weekly dinners he and his friends take turns hosting. In this, the twelfth entry in the Bruno, Chief of Police, series, Bruno learns from a friend that a young American woman, an art history student visiting from Yale, has been discovered dead at the bottom of a well, just outside a castle where she'd attended a lecture. The girl's heavy use of opioids complicates the investigation: Was this murder or an accidental fall caused by an overdose? Adding to the interest is the fact that Bruno had known this woman for months (a flashback provides details about their friendly acquaintance). Martin always delivers a live-wire plot, well-realized characters (he's especially adept at character-revealing scenes), and an incredibly varied setting--this time, he throws in some expertise in medieval falconry. Another winner in an always-strong series.--Connie Fletcher
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
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Fletcher, Connie. "The Body in the Castle Well." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 17, 1 May 2019, p. 24. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A587366618/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1b547758. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Walker, Martin THE SHOOTING AT CHATEAU ROCK Knopf (Fiction None) $25.95 5, 27 ISBN: 978-0-525-65665-4
Bruno Courreges investigates an insurance scam as languidly as only he can.
As chief of police for the town of St. Denis in the Dordogne, Bruno must investigate every complaint of every citizen, even when it isn’t clear that a crime has taken place. Still, as a citizen himself of that region of France he considers unrivaled in beauty, culture, and cuisine, his investigation into the death of the elderly farmer Driant at the urging of Driant’s son, Gaston, moves at a pace leisurely enough for him to spend the requisite time cooking impossibly tender lamb shanks for a group of friends who gather for dinner each Monday night. Bruno does think it odd that Driant mortgaged his farm shortly before his death to buy an insurance policy that would have assured him a place at Chateau Marmont, a luxury retirement home, had he lived long enough to actually move in. But his probe must also leave time for alfresco dining with old friend and aging British rock star Rod Macrae and his soon-to-be ex-wife, Meghan, who are selling their pied-a-terre in France prior to the divorce. And of course, there’s the first mating of Bruno’s basset hound, Balzac, an event so momentous that he invites Isabelle, the love of his life, from Paris (which she will not leave to be with him and where he will not go to be with her) to watch. While waiting for the eventual crime to be solved, readers can revel in the wonders of the Dordogne, even if witnessing a doggie defloration may be a bridge too far for some.
Falling-off-the-bone French at its ne plus ultra.
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"Walker, Martin: THE SHOOTING AT CHATEAU ROCK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617193030/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f8837559. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
The Shooting at Chateau Rock: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel
Martin Walker. Knopf, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-525-65665-4
In Walker's outstanding 13th outing for St. Denis, France, chief of police Benoit "Bruno" Courreges (after 2019's The Body in the Castle Well), 70ish retired rock star Rod Macrae, his much younger wife, and their college-age children, Jamie and Kirsty, are spending a last summer together at their country house, Chateau Rock, before the parents amicably divorce. Jamie is joined by his girlfriend, Galina, a Russian oligarch's daughter. When a sheep farmer dies and his children learn that they've been disinherited, Bruno investigates. He soon suspects there's a connection between the farmer's suspicious death and Galina's father, whose shadowy shell businesses may be a cover for illicit activity throughout the Mediterranean and the E.U. Meanwhile, the obliging Bruno helps plan and prepare meals, teaches children to swim, and considers breeding his pedigree hunting dog. Francophiles will relish the evocative descriptions of the Perigord region and its cuisine. Distinctive characters complement the intricate mystery. Readers new to this elegant series will feel right at home. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gemert Agency. (May)
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"The Shooting at Chateau Rock: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 11, 16 Mar. 2020, pp. 52+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622071077/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c61155f8. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
The Shooting at Chateau Rock. By Martin Walker. May 2020. 320p. Knopf, $25.95 (9780525656654); e-book, $12.99 (9780525656661).
Two chateaus in France's Dordogne region --one an exclusive retirement home, the other the sumptuous residence of a Paul McCartney-like British rock star--form the backdrop of elaborate international schemes and scams in the latest Bruno, Chief of Police, novel. The real attraction here (and in every Bruno novel) isn't the mystery, the solving of which is relegated to odd moments in Bruno's schedule. No, the real star of any Bruno mystery is the chief's enviable lifestyle. He lives on a low maintenance farm surrounded by hills and woods, through which he exercises his horse every day. He belongs to a weekly supper club; pages upon pages are devoted to Bruno's meal prep and the feast itself. He eats wonderful lunches and dinners with friends, he swims, he coaches tennis. Sometimes he goes to the office and makes calls. In the latest, he uncovers a host of Ukrainians and Russians tied to a real-estate scheme; he does this through his connections and through his frequent visits to the aging rock star's chateau. Somewhat surprisingly, the climax of this leisurely tale is exciting, despite feeling a bit tacked on. The Bruno novels are more for foodies and Francophiles than for police-procedural fans, but, in their meal-procedural way, they're completely delicious. --Connie Fletcher
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 American Library Association
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Fletcher, Connie. "The Shooting at Chateau Rock." Booklist, vol. 116, no. 15, 1 Apr. 2020, p. 28. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A621474335/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ef964d4e. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
The Coldest Case: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel
Martin Walker. Knopf, $25.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-525-65667-8
A 30-year-old cold case drives Walker's agreeable if somewhat unsuspenseful 14th novel featuring Bruno Courreges, a police chief in France's Perigord region (after 202()'s The Shooting at Chateau Rock). Soon after the discovery of the badly decomposed remains of a male in his 20s in a wooded area, J-J, Bruno's obsessive fellow officer, deduced from the victim's skull, which J-J personally boiled to preserve, that the man was bludgeoned to death. Bruno now has the idea of using facial reconstruction technology to try to identify the victim. Bruno and J-J's efforts lead them to a mysterious wine maker and a defunct vocational school that was possibly funded by the Stasi, the East German spy agency. The stakes rise as officials in Paris take an interest in the case. The pastoral pleasures of provincial life, as reflected in the many lyrical descriptions of food and wine, tend to overshadow the detective work, and Bruno's wise and sterling character stretches credulity, but these are quibbles. Fans of lighter police procedurals will be well satisfied. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, the Gernert Co. (Aug.)
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"The Coldest Case: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 9, 1 Mar. 2021, p. 44. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A654760022/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1bd663a3. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Walker, Martin THE COLDEST CASE Knopf (Fiction None) $25.99 8, 3 ISBN: 978-0-525-65667-8
St. Denis chief of police Bruno Courreges helps his mentor solve a case that’s puzzled him for decades.
Chief Detective Jalipeau, known to his closest friends as J-J, keeps a skull on his desk in the South of France. Not as a memento mori but as a reminder that as far as he’s risen, there’s still one case—his first—that he’s been unable to solve. Then Bruno gets a brain wave. While looking at displays of Neanderthals in the local museum, he wonders: Why can’t whoever restored these primitive folk help J-J reconstruct Oscar, as he calls his bony souvenir? Bruno tracks down anthropologist Elisabeth Daynès, who recommends Virginie, a graduate student who’s ready for a new challenge. While Virginie is hard at work re-creating Oscar’s musculature, Bruno has a second idea. Why not trace Oscar’s DNA through modern data banks? He quickly gets a hit and just as quickly hits a wall. Oscar had a son, a soldier named Louis Castignac, who was recently killed in action in Mali. As Castignac’s half sister, Sabine, who happens to be a gendarme, helps Bruno try to figure out who her brother's biological father was, Bruno deals with a host of other entanglements. His cousin Alain is getting married. His basset hound, Balzac, has just sired a litter, and he wants to choose two perfect homes for the puppies he will receive as a stud fee. His journalist friends Gilles and Jacqueline have caused a stir by publishing articles about the Rosenholz dossier, a secret document containing names of French agents who worked for the Stasi. Perhaps most urgent, drought has threatened St. Denis with wildfires, and Bruno must band together with the other villagers to protect their farms and their homes.
An overdose of subplots blunts the impact of the main event.
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"Walker, Martin: THE COLDEST CASE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A667031389/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f341e9c2. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
* The Coldest Case. By Martin Walker. Aug. 2021. 336p. Knopf, $25.95 (9780525656678); e-book, $12.99 (9780525656685).
A Neanderthal skull in a museum case leads to the solution of a 30-year-old homicide in Walkers sixteenth entry in his Bruno, Chief of Police, series. The charming hero, Bruno Courreges, police chief for the Vezere Valley in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, is a man of many and deep enthusiasms. Archaeology, especially in this region, which contains the Lascaux caves, is one of them. The reconstructed prehistoric skull leads Bruno to consult experts about doing a facial reconstruction on the cold-case murder victim's skull, still kept in the police evidence room. Walker presents forensic science masterfully, in a case that reaches out to ethical considerations about what revealing the victim's identity could do to his surviving family. But Walker really shines in portraying the Dordogne--and Bruno's idyllic life there, including early-morning runs or early-evening gallops on horseback in the country surrounding his farmhouse; his knowledge of wines; his socializing with friends in amazing restaurants or at their Monday evening dinner parties; and his forays into a countryside of castles, variegated landscapes, markets, and museums of prehistory. New readers to the series can comfortably start here--Walker has the rare ability in a series writer of orienting old and new readers alike. A feast.--Connie Fletcher
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 American Library Association
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Fletcher, Connie. "The Coldest Case." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 19-20, 1 June 2021, p. 40. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A666230146/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=62c07051. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Bruno's Challenge and Other Stories of the French Countryside
Martin Walker. Knopf, $27 (256p) ISBN 978-0-593-53422-9
Fans of The Coldest Case and Walker's other novels set in the little French market town of St. Denis will savor this inviting story collection featuring Bruno Courreges, the town's genial chief of police. As St. Denis is in the Perigord, the culinary heartland of France, a thread of gastronomy and bonhomie plays a significant part in all 14 tales. Walker smoothly integrates recipes into the text, beginning with the title story, which finds Bruno throwing together a golden wedding anniversary feast for friends on short notice and includes easy to follow instructions on how to prepare Poulet a l'estragon. Prehistoric cooking methods figure in "Boeuf Neanderthal," as Bruno prepares a menu for the Societe Historique et Archeologique du Perigord. "The Green Army" describes biodynamic viticultural techniques, and "Sugar Lumps" reveals the proper way to drink absinthe. The area's rich history and traditions are explored at every turn. Any crimes are relatively minor--nasty anonymous letters, spates of vandalism--and are resolved by cooperation, conviviality, and Bruno's clever intervention. Culinary mystery aficionados won't want to miss this one. Agent: Stephanie Cabot. Susanna Lea Agency. (Mar.)
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"Bruno's Challenge and Other Stories of the French Countryside." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 5, 31 Jan. 2022, p. 53. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A693466484/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=992b6744. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Bruno's Challenge: And Other Stories of the French Countryside. By Martin Walker. Mar. 2022. 256P. Knopf, $27 (9780593534229); e-book, $14.99 (9780593534236).
Chief of Police Bruno Courreges, whose beat encompasses the picturesque Vezere Valley in France's Dordogne, leads what must be the most enviable life of any fictional cop. The mysteries Bruno encounters interfere very little with his main passions of cooking, eating, appreciating regional wines, riding horses, and studying archaeology. Walker now adds a short-story collection to the 15 Bruno, Chief of Police Mysteries published so far. These 15 stories have wonderful settings (including restaurants, cafes, the Great Chamber of a Lascaux cave, market stalls in the tiny village of St. Denis, and Bruno's own kitchen), and, for any gastronome, the detailed descriptions of food prep are delicious. But this is far more a food procedural than a police procedural. The stories are short on plot and suspense--for example, two market-stall owners have a dispute and Bruno resolves it; a boy is lost then found later; Bruno and the family tour a cave. Readers looking primarily for mystery will find this collection lacking, but it's delightful reading for those who love the food and atmosphere of Walker's novels.--Connie Fletcher
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Fletcher, Connie. "Bruno's Challenge: And Other Stories of the French Countryside." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 11, 1 Feb. 2022, p. 21. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A693527395/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a8759425. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Martin Walker. Knopf, $27 (320p) ISBN 978-0-593-31979-6
An international incident propels Walker's taut 15th novel featuring Bruno Courreges, the chief of police of the small French town of St. Denis (after 2021's The Coldest Case). A week before Perigord folk band Les Troubadours is scheduled to perform in St. Denis, their new hit, Song for Catalonia, is banned by the Spanish government for encouraging the Catalan region to continue pushing for independence from Spain. The situation escalates exponentially with the spread of fake news on Spanish social media linked to Russia's campaign to stir up divisions in Europe. The musicians' website and Twitter feeds are soon overflowing with hateful comments and even death threats. Bruno begins to suspect that the song's composer may be a target for terrorists when the band performs in his town. Smoothly integrated into Bruno's investigation is information on a multitude of subjects, from medieval musical instruments to Ukrainian history, plus easy-to-follow recipes such as the British classic Coronation Chicken and Bruno's Gazpacho. Good food, fascinating history, and a crackerjack mystery: who could ask for more? Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Susanna Lea Agency. (Aug.)
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"To Kill a Troubadour: A Bruno Chief of Police Novel." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 23, 30 May 2022, p. 41. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A706538360/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=13fd4695. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
To Kill a Troubadour. By Martin Walker. Aug. 2022.320p. Knopf, $27 (9780593319796); e-book, $13.99 (9780593319802).
His ringtone plays the opening notes of the anthem of French Resistance fighters in WWII. His beat in the Dordogne-Perigord region of southwestern France includes fine restaurants, cafes, chateaux, his own town's biweekly market, and the Lascaux Cave. He raises his own chickens, grows his own produce, and is as caring a cook as Robert B. Parker's Spenser. He's Bruno Courreges, Chief of Police, and this is his fifteenth outing. As usual, Walker concocts a satisfying dish featuring an intriguing lead character who moves through enviable settings and enjoys wonderful meals while tracking down criminals. This time, though, the crime hasn't happened yet, and Bruno must frantically try to prevent it. The target is the lead singer of a group called Les Troubadours, which is about to perform their hit song advocating independence for Catalonia, a song that has enraged extremist Spanish nationalists. Les Troubadours is set to perform at an outdoor concert in St. Denis, with Bruno the point man on the ground for the French and Spanish governments. Walker is brilliant at conveying the harrowing logistics involved in figuring out when, where, and how the extremists may strike. Suspense carries to the last in this extremely well-crafted mystery that can be enjoyed by both fans and readers who are new to the series. --Connie Fletcher
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Fletcher, Connie. "To Kill a Troubadour." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 21, 1 July 2022, p. 25. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A713750874/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=aa5b4afa. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
A Chateau under Siege. By Martin Walker. Aug. 2023. 304p. Knopf, $28 (9780593319819); e-book (9780593319826).
The sixteenth Bruno, Chief of Police mystery starts in the medieval French town of Sarlat, where something goes horribly wrong during a reenactment of a battle in which the French trounced the British during the Hundred Years' War. A French soldier is stabbed in the heart through a chink in his armor, with no assailant in sight. Among the spectators is Bruno Courreges, chief of police for the Vezere valley, who must determine whether the stabbing was accidental or intentional. Suspense is heightened by the fact that the victim, who is fighting for his life, is very high-up in French intelligence. After Bruno is assigned to protect the victim's family and Silicon Valley friends, he learns that the case may involve international opposition to a nascent French chip industry and they all may be in danger. A bombshell beginning and excellent dives into medieval reenactments run into too much detail about French intelligence. Bruno's cooking, idyllic domestic life, and Dordogne scenery take a secondary role here. Not the usual Bruno feast, but a treat nonetheless. --Connie Fletcher
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Fletcher, Connie. "A Chateau under Siege." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 21, 1 July 2023, p. 22. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A760091438/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7d671b37. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen. By Martin Walker and Julia Watson. Nov. 2023. 272p. illus. Knopf, $40 (9780593321188). 641.5944.
Readers of Walker's popular Bruno, Chief of Police, series will immediately recognize the ethos of the beloved character in these nearly 100 recipes from France's Dordogne region, known to locals as Perigord. Admittedly not professional chefs, Walker and his coauthor and wife, Watson, boast considerable culinary backgrounds and have accomplished the almost unthinkable: delightful recipes that rarely require more than a page of instruction. Accompanied by photographs of both the dishes and the French countryside Bruno (and the authors) call home, the narrative is structured by food-related occupations: the vegetable plot/the market, the fisherman, the butcher, the hunter, the cheesemaker and dairyman, the baker, the forager, and the winemaker. The authors address traditions, as in "the question of chabrol" (in which a combination of soup and red wine is drunk like a goat would), and explain ingredients (sea salt, goose and duck fat). Readers will take away a sense of the region's community and some very tempting tastes: red onion tarte tatin, gratin of mussels with parsley and garlic, yogurt mousse in a strawberry sauce. Bon appetit!--Barbara Jacobs
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Jacobs, Barbara. "Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 3, 1 Oct. 2023, p. 18. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A768548116/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=dcba422a. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Walker, Martin & Julia Watson. Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen. Knopf. Nov. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9780593321188. $40. COOKING
Fans of Walker's "Bruno, Chief of Police" mysteries know that these books are equal parts celebration of the food and culture of the Perigord region of France and cleverly constructed crime fiction. Now writing with his wife, Watson, Walker brings together more than 90 recipes for some of the favorite dishes of Bruno and his friends. Rather than being arranged by course, the cookbook is divided into chapters like "Vegetable Plot" and "The Market, Hunter, Baker, and Cheese Maker and Dairy Man," with the recipes in each section showcasing the ingredients found therein. From walnut and green olive tapenade to Perigord quiche to "A Most Indulgent Chocolate Cake," every recipe includes an entertaining introductory note and is written in an easily accessible style. The gorgeous color photographs not only splendidly illustrate the dishes but also help immerse readers in the southwestern corner of France. VERDICT Written with a generous measure of culinary joie de vivre and a keen appreciation for the people and culture of Perigord, this captivating cookbook will charm fans of Walker's long-running series as well as any cook wishing to explore the bountiful riches of French country cooking.--John Charles
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"Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen." Library Journal, vol. 148, no. 11, Nov. 2023, p. 74. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A773380813/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3bef5306. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen
Martin Walker and Julia Watson. Knopf Cooks, $40 (272p) ISBN 978-0-593-32118-8
Mystery writer Walker (To Kill a Troubadour) joins forces with his wife, food journalist Watson, to share a vivid collection of recipes inspired by the Perigord region of France, where Walker's Bruno Chief of Police mystery series takes place. Throughout, the authors immerse readers in the series's fictional town of St. Denis by sharing anecdotes ("Bruno devised this terrine to make use of the Perigord's other famous treasures: prunes and walnuts," they write of the duck, pork, prune, and walnut terrine) and even including a short story featuring Bruno. They showcase the diversity of fresh ingredients Perigord has to offer in a red onion rarte tatin, gratin of mussels with parsley and garlic, chicken braised in wine with roasted grapes, and fig frangipane tarts. The authors also share fascinating historical and cultural context, noting that the pot roast chicken Henri IV-style was inspired by the French king who declared that everyone in France should have chicken every Sunday. Home cooks should take note that while all the recipes offer straightforward instructions, some dishes, such as the sixhour leg of lamb wirh garlic and cream sauce, won't come together quickly, and others, like flambeed langoustines, require advanced cooking techniques. Still, series fans and ambitious home cooks will find plenty to savor. Agent: Caroline Wood, Felicity Bryan Assoc. (Nov.)
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"Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 47, 20 Nov. 2023, p. 79. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A775514834/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b3b43ec8. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
A Grave in the Woods: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel
Martin Walker. Knopf, $29 (304p) ISBN 978-0-593-53662-9
Benoit "Bruno" Courreges returns to cook for his friends and keep the French town of St. Denis safe in Walker's leisurely latest outing for the food-loving police chief (after A Chateau Under Siege). Back at home after convalescing from a gunshot wound sustained on his previous case, Bruno learns that human remains--two German women and an Italian man--have just been unearthed on the grounds of an abandoned hotel. Forensic analysis dates the bodies to WWII, and Bruno enlists the help of Abby Howard, a recently divorced American archaeologist visiting St. Denis, to find out more. Complicating matters is Abby's ex-husband, computer whiz Gary Barone, who's harassing her for her settlement money and attempting to hack the police department's computer system, potentially as part of an international blockchain conspiracy. Meanwhile, climate change--induced floods threaten St. Denis's infrastructure, pulling Bruno's focus away from his and Abby's inquiry. As usual, Walker peppers the action with long, chatty dinner scenes and detailed digressions about European history. Series fans will get just what they came for. Agent; Stephanie Cabot, Susanna Lea Assoc. (Sept.)
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"A Grave in the Woods: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 28, 22 July 2024, p. 44. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A803518100/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=97be9895. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Walker, Martin A GRAVE IN THE WOODS Knopf (Fiction None) $29.00 9, 24 ISBN: 9780593536629
Relax. All the deceased in police chief Bruno Courrèges' latest case have been dead for a long time. But that doesn't mean there's no mystery about them.
Bruno returns from medical leave to his office, which has been commandeered by Colette Cantagnac, his overbearing new executive administrator, just in time to hear that English ex-chef Tim Birch and his wife, Krys, want to purchase a vacant hotel, the Domaine de la Barde, and refit it as a cooking school. It sounds like a win-win for everyone, but there's one problem: what to do about the neglected grave on the building's grounds. A quick excavation in the presence of visiting American archaeologist Abigail Howard reveals a dog buried there; a deeper dig discloses three human skeletons--two naked females and one fully clothed male. The women are pretty clearly Luftwaffe officers Anna-Liese Weber and Hannalore Franke, who died in 1944, but it's not at all clear how the man can really be Italian captain Salvatore Todaro, whose identification papers he carries, since Todaro was killed in 1942 on board the submarine he commanded. By the time this third corpse is properly identified, the brew will include other complications: attempted cyberattacks on Bruno and others, the threat of some once-in-a-lifetime floods, and the difficulties in both establishing the truth of what happened back in 1944 and what the French, Italian, British, and American authorities who are involved can do about it now. The questions Walker raises about the wartime foundations of the comfortable social fabric and rituals Bruno and his friends in St. Denis take for granted are so ambitious that it's no great surprise that they're more compelling than their answers.
An overstuffed memorial to the days of World War II.
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"Walker, Martin: A GRAVE IN THE WOODS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A806452910/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f64aabab. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.