Spy caper set in Swinging 1960s London
Crime mystery set in the DORDOGNE
31st July 2024
A Grave In The Woods by Martin Walker, crime mystery set in the Dordogne.
This is no.17 in the Dordogne Mystery series and I very much enjoyed this one. Given the various threads involved in the storyline, there is a new found depth in the writing that moves the series to the next level. It is also very pleasant to pick up with old friends Bruno Courrèges (Chief of Police in the Vezère Valley) and his Basset Hound Balzac, in fictional St Denis.
There are now two sleuths that I know of who prefer old Land Rovers as their mode of transport, to wit Bruno (who has a 1955 model, no less) and of course Vera Stanhope, who has been created by Ann Cleeves. Obviously it is the vehicle of choice amongst the experienced and perhaps a little world weary investigators! But I digress.
Bruno is easing himself back into work after being shot. He is still technically on sick leave but there is no stopping him, especially when he discovers his office has been purloined in his absence. But he has even more important things to deal with. A grave has turned up and it looks like the bodies are of a German and an Italian, probably from the era of WW2. And thus the wider European world has to be involved and the bodies properly laid to rest. But what actually happened back then? As an assault on Bruno’s software is instigated and flooding is forecast, he finds himself firmly back in the saddle.
This series of mysteries is a great way to indulge in the life of the locality, within a good storyline.
“I believe that this great peaceful region of France will always be a sacred spot for man and that when the cities have killed off the poets this will be the refuge and the cradle of the poets to come… France may one day exist no more, but the Dordogne will live on just as dreams live on and nourish the souls of men” (Henry Miller)
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