A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel) by Martin Walker

A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel) by Martin Walker
Buy A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel) by Martin Walker at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Crime
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: It's officially book seventeen in the series but there's still a remarkable freshness. An enjoyable read.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 336	Date: June 2024
Publisher: Quercus
ISBN: 978-1529428285
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Because of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones. They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, the Chief of Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of the bodies and establish whether or not a crime had been committed. As if this isn't enough to worry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. It's not just the local autumn rains that have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to release water and St Denis faces the possibility of a devastating flood.

I appreciated the combination of problems: previous books have had mysteries involving international issues. It could happen occasionally but it seemed to happen too often in St Denis. This time, there's a situation involving the bodies of German officers and French resistance fighters. In that particular area of France, this isn't an extraordinary occurrence. With the effects of climate change being felt everywhere, the floods which threatened St Denis are almost commonplace. I could buy into the situation in the town completely.

Many of the characters will be familiar to readers from earlier books in the series but don't worry if this is your first meeting with the people of St Denis. You'll probably want to go back and read the earlier books but it's not essential. The characterisation has been one of the real strengths of this series: Martin Walker can bring each one off the page in just a few words. I'm particularly fond of Florence and her twins: they all adore Bruno and I just wish he'd take a personal interest in Florence.

I was stunned by the way that Walker described the flooding: he captured the feeling of it completely. I read this section on the train on my way into York - and was shocked as I walked across Lendal Bridge to find that the Ouse was flowing (for once) at a normal level.

I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy. As well as reading the book, I listened to an audio download I bought myself. It was narrated by Peter Noble, who has narrated earlier books in the series and - as ever - he is excellent and easy to listen to. I did find, though, that I got more from reading the book but only because my comprehension of written French is better than when I listen to it being spoken. That's my problem though, rather than any shortcoming in the audio version of the book.

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