The Crowded Grave

May 7, 2012
The discovery at an archeological dig of a corpse dating back only to the 1980s, with a gunshot wound to the head, is but the first of several problems facing St. Denis police chief Bruno Courrèges in Walker’s appealing fourth mystery set in France’s Perigord region (after 2011’s Black Diamond). Bruno also has to worry about a potential terrorist threat to a high-profile meeting between French and Spanish officials in St. Denis. To make matters worse, the town’s newly installed investigating magistrate is a stickler who takes health code violations seriously in a community where people often slaughter their own livestock, with or without a license. Finally, at a time when PETA activists are stirring up trouble, the magistrate launches a campaign against the sacred foie gras. Walker hits the sweet spot of balancing humor and drama, and his food descriptions will leave readers fantasizing about dining in the Perigord. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Felicity Bryan Associates.

July 15, 2012
A terrorist is introduced to Dordogne foie gras. St. Denis Chef de Police Benoit "Bruno" Courreges (Black Diamond, 2011, etc.) has his hands full. An unidentified corpse shot some 20 years ago has been found at the site of an archaeological dig. Two of the foreign students there, Teddy and Kajte, may be involved in a case of animal-rights vandalism. And a secret summit meeting of Spanish and French ministers may be targeted by Basque terrorists. While Bruno's English girlfriend Pamela flies home to deal with her mother's stroke and her ex-husband, Bruno's former Paris-based girlfriend Isabelle, recovering from a wound inflicted on the job, returns to St. Denis with other governmental bigwigs to supervise the summit. PETA leaflets appear. Dynamite caches are rifled. A Spanish minister's car blows up. The German archaeology professor responsible for the dig disappears. Teddy and Kajte scamper off. Worse, the farmers raising ducks for foie gras loathe the new magistrate, who thinks eating the stuff is barbaric. Then clues to that old cadaver crop up, indicating ties to the SS, the Baader-Meinhof Group and the Red Army Faktion. Cover stories are uncovered. Good guys turn out to be bad. Bruno's longtime companion, a basset hound, dies a heroic death. And Bruno manages to deal with everything and still have time to make a mouthwatering lamb stew, savor a Perigord foie gras snack and enjoy a really nice glass or two of wine. Another delicious romp through a French menu garnished with politics.

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July 1, 2012

Local police chief Bruno Courreges returns with his fourth case (after Black Diamond) set in France's bucolic Dordogne region. A beautiful spring day darkens when a dead body turns up at the local archaeological dig site. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/12.]

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
Police Chief Bruno Courreges, of the small French town of St. Denis, has a lot on his plate here besides his lovely foie gras. There are PETA demonstrations against local farmers who raise geese; a recent body has turned up at an archaeological dig just before an important discovery is announced; the professor in charge of the dig then disappears; and a planned summit, fraught with security concerns, is about to take place between French and Spanish officials on an agreement about Basque terrorism. At the same time, Courreges' new magistrate, a feminist vegetarian who finds foie gras not just cruel but barbaric, joins forces with another local lawman in a vendetta against Bruno, who occasionally cuts corners to achieve humanitarian ends. The fourth installment in this series (after Black Diamond, 2011) is largely a lighthearted celebration of the Perigord region of France, up to its action-packed climax, but the damage and loss sustained there fail to dim the prevailing atmosphere of dappled sunlight and good food and wine and friends. A pleasure for Francophiles, oenophiles, and the palate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)