Reviews for Bruno, Chief of Police

The average rating for Bruno, Chief of Police based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-06-15 00:00:00 Jason Jung Great detective novel! WELCOME TO ST. DENIS This is the first book, introducing the character of "Bruno", who's proper name is Benoît Courrèges, and he is the Chief of Police, in a small town named St. Denis, set in the región of Périgord, France. St. Denis has been a town so calm that he rarely carries his service gun, and he doesn't have any deputies. Bruno is close friend of the town's mayor, and St. Denis is of those towns where everybody knows everybody. However, their relaxed ambiance is suddenly shaken when the grandfather of a very known family (from Argelian and Arabic ethnics) is found dead, and not just dead but mutilated and with a Nazi swastika carved in his chest, along with the dissapearance of a French military medal given to the grandfather and an old rugby team photo. The Gendarmerie garrison is immediately called for assistance, along with the Police Nationale (in France, there are at least three key police branches, and each respond to different ministries, so you can bet that many times, it results in a mess of jurisdictions). The peaceful rutiny of St. Denis is soon turned into a socio-political war zone, with the involment of radical political parties' members. Moreover, government officials from Paris are doing pressure that that nasty crime has to be solved fast, making worse the situation sending a public prosecutor more interested to find a culprit (any culprit) than respecting the civic rights of St. Denis' inhabitants. While the investigation falls into the Gendarmerie and the Police Nationale, the Mayor pulled rank to keep Bruno, right in the middle of things, as his personal liaison, and in this way, not only Bruno can do his own investigation, but also he can give his personal advice and knowledge about the townspeople to the Gendarmerie regional head and the beautiful special inspector assigned to the case, but above all, to keep St. Denis as it was before as possible. Bruno soon will discover that he didn't know everybody as well as he used to think, that past always catches up with present, and that sometimes justice and peacekeeping aren't synonymous, if you want to keep together a town. The book not only has a gripping narrative style but also the author gives to the reader a deep (real deep!) knowledge about how things are done in France in several fields, its current socio-political idiosyncrasies, but also about France's history (especially during WWII, but also other military conflicts), even history facts quite obscure that the majority of people (even in France) don't know about that very country. Bon appetit!

Review # 2 was written on 2015-05-14 00:00:00 Tom Anderson Bruno (real name Benoît Courrèges), chief of police, is a complex man, with an agreeable personality, has a sense of humor, a fierce loyalty to his village- St Denis, with 3000 inhabitants-and a keen nose for detail. He has empathy and guts, patience and understanding. Above all, he is a beloved, but also a seriously underestimated policeman. The rugby team is much more than a sports team; Bruno's loyalty demands that the village market is protected against the E.U. hygiene inspectors; children needs to be trained in tennis and yes, rugby. It's quite elementary my dear Watson: if he gets to know them as five-year-olds, he will know how to handle them as teenagers. More importantly, they will get to know their police chief and reconsider their wicket activities later in their lives. Then there is the village parades to be organized and the enjoyment of the obligatory leisurely lunches afterwards. That is, when he doesn't cook, can, or bake his own food. When an old, respected war hero, Hamid al-Bakr, is brutally murdered, and his exsanguinated body is found by his grandson, the quirky inhabitants all become suspects. Revolt is threatening. The tourism industry is in danger. The politicians are nervous. The swastika carved onto the victims torso takes the high profile investigation team to a dark place in French history where old sins breed fresh heartbreak This is the first Martin Walker that I have read and it was an entertaining, adventurous, informative, dramatic, and excellent read. His writing style of bringing serious issues, really dark history and daily experiences to the table, without a neurotic, dark undercurrant, works in his favor, in my book at least. The richness of the French countryside, the cultures, people, politics, geography and everything as French as it possibly can get, is splashed out over the sinister murder case. The ending simply celebrates Viva La France! In this quiet village, all events are handled differently. "... there were some problems beyond human solution, but none beyond human kindness." If all his books is like this one, he will be the number one crime-series writer in my book, with my sincere apologize to Louise Penny, but that's just how it is.