Bruno, Chief of Police: A Novel of the French Countryside

The first installment in a wonderful new series that follows the exploits of Benot Courrges, a policeman in a small French village where the rituals of the caf still rule. Brunoas he is affectionately nicknamedmay be the towns only municipal policeman, but in the hearts and minds of its denizens, he is chief of police.

Bruno is a former soldier who has embraced the pleasures and slow rhythms of country lifeliving in his restored shepherds cottage; patronizing the weekly market; sparring with, and basically ignoring, the European Union bureaucrats from Brussels. He has a gun but never wears it; he has the power to arrest but never uses it. But then the murder of an elderly North African who fought in the French army changes everything and galvanizes Brunos attention: the man was found with a swastika carved into his chest.

Because of the cases potential political ramifications, a young policewoman is sent from Paris to aid Bruno with his investigation. The two immediately suspect militants from the anti-immigrant National Front, but when a visiting scholar helps to untangle the dead mans past, Brunos suspicions turn toward a more complex motive. His investigation draws him into one of the darkest chapters of French historyWorld War II, a time of terror and betrayal that set brother against brother. Bruno soon discovers that even his seemingly perfect corner of la belle France is not exempt from that periods sinister legacy.

Bruno, Chief of Police is deftly dark, mesmerizing, and totally engaging.