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saareman 's review for:
The Dark Vineyard
by Martin Walker, Martin Walker
I discovered Martin Walker's charming Bruno Courrèges series only this summer. "The Dark Vineyard" is the 2nd book of the series and follows the first, called "Bruno, Chief of Police". The title of 'Chief of Police' is a bit of a misnomer as Bruno is actually the only policeman in the fictitious village of Saint-Denis which is situated where the Vézère River flows into the Dordogne River (approximately where, in real life, the village of Limeuil is located) in the heart of the Périgord region of Southwestern France.
This latest case starts with the arson of a mysterious crop at an experimental farm situated near to the Saint-Denis community. This leads to conflicts with the scion of an American winery corporation who is seeking to buy up land in the region for future vineyards and mass wine production. Various characters in St. Denis have opposing views on the wisdom of allowing strangers to move in like this. While the arson investigation proceeds a few mysterious deaths occur to add further complications. Bruno is at the heart of tying in all the separate mysteries while his friend Jean-Jacques Jalipeau (called J-J) and his team from the National Police in Perigueux help out on the forensics and the local gendarmes are there for the strong-arm work. Meanwhile, Bruno's amour from the 1st book makes a return but there may not be much future in that relationship and Bruno already has his eye set elsewhere. All of this plays out with various trivia details about wine vintages, food preparation and food enjoyment scattered throughout the book which add the atmosphere of a completely real living community to the crime mystery plot.
The crime solving aspects are not the real draw to the Bruno series. The draw is the charming character of Bruno himself, the life around his farm-like home with his trusty basset hound Gigi, and Bruno's all-encompassing efforts to do the best for his community, regardless of what the official laws may state. This is another winner from Martin Walker and was even more enjoyable than the first book.
This latest case starts with the arson of a mysterious crop at an experimental farm situated near to the Saint-Denis community. This leads to conflicts with the scion of an American winery corporation who is seeking to buy up land in the region for future vineyards and mass wine production. Various characters in St. Denis have opposing views on the wisdom of allowing strangers to move in like this. While the arson investigation proceeds a few mysterious deaths occur to add further complications. Bruno is at the heart of tying in all the separate mysteries while his friend Jean-Jacques Jalipeau (called J-J) and his team from the National Police in Perigueux help out on the forensics and the local gendarmes are there for the strong-arm work. Meanwhile, Bruno's amour from the 1st book makes a return but there may not be much future in that relationship and Bruno already has his eye set elsewhere. All of this plays out with various trivia details about wine vintages, food preparation and food enjoyment scattered throughout the book which add the atmosphere of a completely real living community to the crime mystery plot.
The crime solving aspects are not the real draw to the Bruno series. The draw is the charming character of Bruno himself, the life around his farm-like home with his trusty basset hound Gigi, and Bruno's all-encompassing efforts to do the best for his community, regardless of what the official laws may state. This is another winner from Martin Walker and was even more enjoyable than the first book.