saareman's reviews
2952 reviews

The Crowded Grave is the 4th Bruno Courrèges, Chief of Police novel by Martin Walker and ups the ante on this terrific series. The earlier books were solid 4's for me but this one earned an extra star for the added drama and pathos of its conclusion. The familiar friends and ambiance of the village of St. Denis in the heart of the Périgord region of France are all in place here but the added suspense of a plot related to Basque ETA terrorists takes this well out of the realms of cozy mystery fiction. As in each book an aspect of Périgord food, wine or life is used as a plot device and this time it involves an archeological find in the local area which in real-life is also famous as the site of many Prehistoric caves with wall drawings. You can also count on further new food recipes and wine recommendations during the course of the book.
I am already looking forward to the next one of my new favourite mystery series.

I'm rating this a 4 out of 5 as it does a good job of capturing the plot lines of the film and clarified a few points for me that I missed while watching it. A few times there was the sense that perhaps the novelization was based on a early script rather than the finished film as some touches were missing. I'm not talking about anything major, I mean little things like the scene with the orphan boy drawing bat symbols with chalk that was in the trailer and in the final film but is not mentioned in the novelization. It was interesting to read in writer Greg Cox's afterward that he was away from home in Burbank during the writing which makes you picture him securely locked in a room from which the script cannot be removed in order to protect plot security.

Martin Walker's 'Bruno Courrèges, Chief of Police' books should come with a warning label saying: "May provoke cravings for foie gras, fresh croissants and good wine."

This is the 5th of the Bruno series of books and was just released in the UK as of early August 2012. I've become such a Bruno fan in the space of the past 2 months that I ordered this one online since it will likely be a year before the North American edition is released.

The main plot involves the finding of a dead body found floating down the river in a punt showing indications of the aftermath of a satanic ritual. Meanwhile Bruno is anonymously alerted to a case of domestic abuse and his patron, the Mayor of St. Denis, is involved with a development scheme to build a high-end holiday village in the outskirts of the community. Many others of the St. Denis and Perigord cast are back including a new romantic temptation for Bruno and even a possible love interest for the Baron.

I enjoyed this one quite as much as the others although the ending was quite shocking and distressing in some ways (no, not as distressing as the end to No. 4, if you know what I mean).