Spoilers!
Murder mystery. Break for lunch. Murder mystery. Break for scrumptious dinner. Wake up and ride the horses. Murder mystery. Break— If you like Agatha Christie or the world of Benoit Blanc from the Knives Out movies, then Martin Walker’s 2018 book, A Taste for Vengeance, the 11th in the series featuring Bruno Courrèges, a country police officer in an idyllic village in Southern France, will be go well with your particularly delightful palate.
Walker’s book accomplished a four-course meal for me quite effortlessly and charmingly: 1.) I fell in love with the French village of St. Denis in my mind’s eye; 2.) I would love to go to one of Bruno’s dinners even to try food that doesn’t naturally appeal to me, such as foie gras, which figures prominently in the French cuisine apparently; 3.) Drinking all the wine at a wine tasting in the French countryside seems like it would be an extraordinary experience; and most importantly, 4.) How can you not root for Bruno? He exudes easygoing with his love of his Basset Hound, horses, cooking, and coaching women’s rugby, a burgeoning sport in France; he has an impressive yet understated guile, with the way he stands him for himself as a country police officer against the more experienced and prominent National Police figures in France, as well as British and American delegates; and the way in which he navigates the village as a legitimate peace officer interested in serving the people. In other words, I want to dine with Bruno, ride horses with Bruno, drink wine with Bruno, walk the French countryside with Bruno, and pick Bruno’s brain about French politics and crime, as well as his history serving in war. He’s smart, calm, and resourceful. Even when he makes a mistake by trying to show off, in a way, to the National Police, the scheme ends up working. And he’s also fair-minded and progressive-thinking when it comes to his star rugby player becoming pregnant and going through with an abortion.
In this introductory story and case Bruno is on, he’s dealing with what appears at first detection to be a murder-suicide between a married woman and her lover. Scandalous! But as the story unfolds, we find out that there is more to the mystery man than meets the eye (he’s actually a former mercenary who was presumed dead), and his apparent suicide can’t be definitively ruled a suicide, i.e., it could be murder. Bruno eventually shows the American and British delegation that it was possible for two people to murder her him via hanging in a tree.
The investigation reveals that disgruntled so-called New IRA members sought revenge against the man for his participation in the death of other IRA members years ago. But it was a two birds, one stone sort of plot, because the former spouse and her children of the dead woman’s rich husband (who was dying in America, which is why the Americans were involved) sought to kill the woman, so she wouldn’t inherit his riches upon his imminent death. Two of the four IRA members escape during a prison transfer, thanks to a sneaky third IRA member, and Bruno, with the help of a neighbor with a shotgun, take down the three IRA members before they can kill a British official in another bid for vengeance. The same official who is the father of the daughter hosting cooking classe Bruno is helping with, mind you.
So yeah, interspersed between all the murder mystery intrigue is Bruno hosting people for dinner, or demonstrating cooking for the cooking class, or breaking for far more elaborate, fancy lunches than us Americans typically have. And drinking plenty of yummy-sounding wine, riding his horses, loving on his dog, and ensuring his star rugby player is okay, particularly with her devoutly religious parents.
Walker’s writing is seasoned just right with intrigue, charm, and a compelling main character that you enjoy even Bruno’s non-crime-solving moments. I can’t wait to read more stories involving Bruno and the French countryside.
Milam's Musings 