A Chateau Under Siege: A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel

By Martin Walker

Book Overview

When an actor in a local play is attacked during a performance, Bruno must learn whether it was an accident, a crime of passion, or an assassination attempt with implications far beyond the small French village.

The town of Sarlat is staging a reenactment of its liberation from the British in the Hundred Years War when the play's French hero, Brice Kerquelin, is stabbed and feared fatally wounded. Is it an unfortunate prop malfunction--or something more sinister? The stricken man happens to be number two in the French intelligence service, in line for the top job. Bruno is tasked with the safety of the victim's daughters, Claire and Nadia, as well as their father's old Silicon Valley buddies, ostensibly in town for a reunion. One friend from Taiwan, a tycoon in chip fabrication, soon goes missing, and Bruno suspects there may be a link to the French government's efforts to build a chip industry in Europe--something powerful forces in Russia and China are determined to scuttle.

Wading through a tangle of rivalries and secrets, Bruno begins to parse fact from fiction--while also becoming embroiled in some romantic complications, and, of course, finding time to put together some splendid meals.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593313992
• ISBN13: 9780593313992
• Release Date: July 2024
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Total disappointment.

I am halfway through this book and struggling to convince myself to finish it. I usually look forward to the Bruno books, enjoying them as a reflection of the small town and people of my younger years. Quite frankly, this one is tiresome and dull. Instead of the usual brisk and interesting actions and characters, this is full of ponderous, almost page-long paragraphs, full of 'information' and descriptions we don't need. It doesn't move along, but sits tediously in the same place, rotating this 'information' and descriptions over and over. Characters are not fleshed out, and, as dreaded and suspected, it seems Bruno is bound to end up with the boring Florence. If you have read and enjoyed other Bruno books, give this one a miss lest you be disgruntled and put off the whole series.