This latest instalment in the chronicles of Benoit ‘Bruno’ Courrèges, the Chief of Police in St Denis, a small provincial town in the Dordogne region of south west France, maintains the high quality of the series to date. It opens with Bruno and friends attending an elaborate reenactment of a medieval battle in one of the larger neighbouring towns, in which the invading English forces were routed by the locals. As the event nears its climax, the actor playing the charismatic leader of the French forces seems to depart from the rehearsed moves and suffers a serious injury,

This accident proves more serious than anticipated when more details about the injured man emerge. Although he had a long track record of eager participation in such historic re-enactments, he is actually a senior figure within the French security networks, and has been leading development of the country’s cybersecurity potential. The local police are left to wonder whether his injuries are the consequence of a genuine accident, or whether darker motives lie behind the incident.

As usual, Bruno finds himself being pulled in several different directions, struggling to fulfil his duties as a local policeman and pillar of the community while also being co-opted to help the security forces as they investigate further. Also, as usual, Bruno cooks some amazing meals, and generally keeps the local community ticking over. This may all sound rather twee, but the book is far from that, blending genuine excitement with yet another charming insight into life in the Dordogne.

I feel slightly sad as I have now caught up with Martin Walker – this is the most recent book in the series, although I understand that a new one is due for publication in a couple of months. ( )

audiobook, cooperation, covert-ops, crime-fiction, espionage, ex-military, foodie, France, historic-buildings, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, international-crime-and-mystery, international-espionage, investigations, law-enforcement, lies, read, reenactors, relationship-issues, relationships, secrets, security-staff, smoke-and-mirrors, suspense, thriller, unputdownable, witty*****

The reenactment takes a dangerous turn and some things about it seem a little hinky. I had forgotten that besides being ex special forces with NATO, Bruno is connected with the international services as well. This is a major thing in this book, as is the friendly interference in his personal life by some of his very well-meaning friends. The massive twist near the end absolutely blew me away!
There are lots of side plots and even more foodie descriptions along with complex history lessons.
Another unputdownable and inexplicable tale centered around a highly intelligent man who is not interested in fame nor climbing the ladder of police hierarchy.
Voice actor Robert Ian MacKenzie is excellent with interpretation and character definition, and superior in the rolling tones of French pronunciations. ( )

One of the reasons why I enjoy Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police series so much is that I get a non-US view of the world and how a country like France fits into that world. (In A Château Under Siege, I also learned a surprising fact about South Dakota.)

While learning how to stage a historical reenactment, I watched Bruno as he worked to learn who would want to kill Brice Kerquelin. Bruno has his fingers on the pulse of his hometown of St. Denis. He is a vital part of life there; he knows everyone and everyone knows him. That's one of the things that makes him such a good policeman. He's also an excellent coordinator of various French law enforcement and government agencies, which is why he's been given much more responsibility.

But A Château Under Siege isn't merely about working with official departments and solving the mystery. There are also the things that long-time fans of this series have come to love and expect. We meet an adorable six-year-old named Patsy who has a secret friend. We have virtual ringside seats to one of Bruno's homecooked feasts (would they were real!), and we even get to watch Bruno's friends attempt a romantic intervention for their friend.

If you enjoy strong mysteries with a beguiling sense of place and wonderful characters, you need to immerse yourself in the world of Bruno Courrèges, Chief of Police of the village of St. Denis in southwestern France. Bon appétit! ( )

So, I read most of this while I had the stomach flu, so that might influence me. At first I liked how much information we were learning about the victim...a police officer could just go through the victim's house and gather clues. But then it became too much information, and the case took on all sorts of global issues. Not a bad thing, but not what I had signed up for. Various military and police units, as well as intelligence agencies got involved, and we learned much about the protocol of going between groups. Oh, and we learned the denouments of many of the previous books in the series...so, don't start with this one. Lovely descriptions of the Perigord, and Bruno's circle of friends is fun to read about. Good food descriptions, but kind of comical how Bruno whips up fabulous meals as he waits for military operations to commence. ( )

A little fluffier than some of the others in this series. However, the portrait of semi-rural French life is still wonderful, as are the meals. ( )