Books by Martin Walker

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Book SynopsisWhen a musician’s new song hits a political nerve, he finds himself in the crosshairs of Spanish nationalists’ ire, and it’s up to Bruno to track down the extremists who seem ready to take deadly measures, in another delightful installment of the internationally acclaimed series featuring Bruno, Chief of Police.“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.”—BooklistLes Troubadours, a folk music group that Bruno has long supported, go viral with their new number, “Song for Catalonia,” when the Spanish government suddenly bans the song. The songwriter, Joel Martin, is a local enthusiast for the old Occitan language of Périgord and the medieval troubadours, and he sympathizes with the Catalan bid for independence. The success of his song provokes outrage among

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Book SynopsisRecovered Memory: New York and Paris 1960-1980 is a meditation on time and place: before the internet and 24/7 news; when one could visit the Eiffel Tower without seeing police and automatic weapons, when a ride on the New York subway cost 15 cents, when the smell of fresh-baked baguettes wafted over nearly every Parisian neighborhood, and when the Coney Island parachute ride still thrilled thousands. Van Riper’s striking black and white photographs spanning twenty years, coupled with his eloquent texts, capture the 20th-century romance and grit of New York more than a half century ago, and Paris, some forty years ago. It was a time when the pace of life was slower and somehow less threatening, people talked to each other instead of texting on their iPhones, and you literally had to stop and smell the coffee.Trade Review“...a lively, entertaining compare-and-contrast exercise, wrought using the writer’s own decades-distant, but still vivid, recollections.”, - Musee Magazine, November 5, 2018 Also featured by: Photo District News L'Oeil de la Photographie

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Book SynopsisA noted truffle expert is murdered in this installment of the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Chief of Police Bruno. Filled with an abundance of food and wine (including, bien sûr, many, many truffles), Black Diamond is a deliciously entertaining concoction that delivers all the complexity and delights of the Dordogne itself.A charming French village, great food, eccentric characters and a mystery to nudge things along.... Savory indeed —The Seattle TimesSomething dangerous is afoot in St. Denis. In the space of a few weeks, the normally sleepy village sees attacks on Vietnamese vendors, arson at a local Asian restaurant, subpar truffles from China smuggled into outgoing shipments at a nearby market—all of it threatening the Dordogne’s truffle trade, worth millions of dollars each year, and all of it spelling trouble for Benoît “Bruno” Courrèges, master chef, devoted oenophile, and, most important, beloved chief of police. When one of his hunting partners, a noted truffle expert, is murdered, Bruno’s investigation into the murky events unfolding around St. Denis becomes infinitely more complicated. His friend wasn’t just a connoisseur of French delicacies, he was a former high-profile intelligence agent—and someone wanted him dead.As the strange crimes continue, Bruno’s detective work takes him from sunlit markets to dim cafés, from luxurious feasts to tense negotiations—from all of the paradisial pleasures of the region to its shadowy underworld—and reunites him with a lost love, an ambitious policewoman also assigned to the case. 

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Book SynopsisThe Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic was called the most beautiful car of all time. Only four of them were ever built. A California museum paid $37 million for one; Ralph Lauren bought another; a third was smashed by a train at a level crossing. The fourth disappeared in France during World War 2. It was the car used by British racing ace, William Grover Williams, twice winner of the French and Monaco Grand Prix, who became an undercover agent in Occupied France.The latest adventure in the Bruno series of mystery novels starts from this true story. Two young men, both racing drivers with a passion for antique cars, compete to find new clues as to the car's hiding place in the Perigord region of France where Bruno is the local chief of police. When a local researcher turns up dead on Bruno's patch, and French intelligence starts investigating the use of classic car sales to launder money for funding Islamic terrorism, Bruno finds himself once more caught up in a case that reaches far beyond his small town and its people.With the bucolic charm and gourmet cooking that are the hallmarks of this series, Bruno's latest adventure finds him falling in love again as he races to find the murderer and to track down the fate of the most beautiful car ever made.

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Book SynopsisAnother delightful installment in the internationally acclaimed series: It's spring in St. Denis. The village choir is preparing for its Easter concert, the wildflowers are blooming, and among the lazy whorls of the river a dead woman is found floating in a boat. This means another case for Bruno, the town’s cherished chief of police.   With the discovery of sinister markings and black candles near the body, it seems to Bruno that the occult might be involved. And as questions mount—most notably about a troubling real estate proposal in the region and the sudden reappearance of an elderly countess—Bruno and his colleagues are drawn ever closer to a climactic showdown in the Gouffre de Colombac: the place locals call the Devil’s Cave.

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Book SynopsisThis installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Chief of Police Bruno will take all of Bruno's resolve and quick thinking to untangle a mystery that will reach its deadly denouement at the château of an aging rock star. But in true Bruno fashion, at least lunchtime is never in danger.It’s summer in the Dordogne and the heirs of a modest sheep farmer learn that they have been disinherited. Their father’s estate has been sold to an insurance company in return for a policy that will place him in a five-star retirement home for the rest of his life. But the farmer dies before he can move in. Was it a natural death? Or was there foul play? Chief of Police Bruno Courrèges is soon on the case, embarking on an investigation that will lead him to several shadowy insurance companies owned by a Russian oligarch with a Cypriot passport. The arrival of the oligarch’s daughter in the Périgord only furthe

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Book SynopsisAn anonymous skull, an unsolved murder, sinister rumors from the Cold War era of espionage—Bruno's investigation into a long-standing cold case finds him caught between an enigmatic winegrower and a menacing Communist organization from the past.After attending an exhibit on the facial reconstruction of ancient skulls, Bruno wonders if this technology might provide an invaluable clue to a thirty-year-old cold case. But learning the identity of the murder victim is only the beginning. The investigation quickly turns thorny and leads Bruno to a reclusive vintner, Henri Bazaine, whose education at a vocational school in a formerly Communist region has raised some eyebrows. An inquiry into the defunct school turns up shadowy reports of possible connections and funding from the Stasi, the repressive police agency of the former East Germany. The scrutiny on Henri intensifies once Bruno discovers that he was declared dead thirty years ago and has been living u

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Book SynopsisWhen an actor in a local play is attacked during a performance, Bruno must learn whether it was an accident, a crime of passion, or an assassination attempt with implications far beyond the small French village.The town of Sarlat is staging a reenactment of its liberation from the British in the Hundred Years War when the play’s French hero, Brice Kerquelin, is stabbed and feared fatally wounded. Is it an unfortunate prop malfunction—or something more sinister? The stricken man happens to be number two in the French intelligence service, in line for the top job. Bruno is tasked with the safety of the victim’s daughters, Claire and Nadia, as well as their father’s old Silicon Valley buddies, ostensibly in town for a reunion. One friend from Taiwan, a tycoon in chip fabrication, soon goes missing, and Bruno suspects there may be a link to the French government’s efforts to build a chip industry in Europe—something powerful forces in Russia and China are determined to scuttle.  Wading through a tangle of rivalries and secrets, Bruno begins to parse fact from fiction—while also becoming embroiled in some romantic complications, and, of course, finding time to put together some splendid meals.

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Book SynopsisMartin Walker's first collection of stories featuring all the familiar characters from his Bruno novels and the glories of the Périgord region of France, with ample helpings of food and wine.Whether preparing nettle soup, liaising with the Police Nationale or reading boar scat, Bruno remains focused and efficient.... Turn immediately to Martin Walker’s new platter of delicious morsels.”—The Washington PostAfter a prisoner breaks parole to see his son on Christmas, Bruno must track him down before he throws away his chance at eventual freedom. When a Senegalese man’s coffee sells superbly at the market, some café owners become incensed by the new competition and take matters into their own hands. As a Swiss tourist and a St. Denis native fall in love over the fruit-and-veggie stall, one of their family members takes drastic steps to break them up. A fledgling tour bus business is sabotaged, leading Bruno to

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Book SynopsisA pair of murders, a romance, and rivals in pursuit of a long-lost vintage car make for another mystery for Bruno, Chief of Police, in this installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Chief of Police Bruno.It’s the start of summer, and Bruno’s found himself the last-minute replacement navigator in a car rally race. The event has attracted a spate of outsiders with deep pockets, big egos and, in the case of one young Englishman, an intriguing story about a lost Bugatti Type 57C. Having disappeared somewhere in France during World War II, and worth millions of dollars, it’s among the most beautiful cars ever made, driving its pursuers mad with greed. When a local scholar turns up dead, Bruno suspects unnatural causes. Still, while life may offer its challenges—often in the form of distractingly comely Parisiennes—there is always time for a good bottle and a home-cooked meal.

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