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A beloved village, a renowned family, a suspicious death - it's the latest adventure in the Dordogne for police chief Bruno. When Bruno is invited to the lavish birthday celebration of World War II flying ace and national icon Marco "the Patriarch" Desaix, it's the fulfillment of a boyhood dream. But when the party ends in the death of Gilbert, Marco's longtime friend, it's another day on the job for the chef de police. All signs point to a tragic accident, but Bruno isn't so sure. There is more to the Desaix family's lives and loyalties than meets the eye. There is Victor, the Patriarch's son, Gilbert's old comrade-in-arms and sometime rival; Victor's seductive wife, Madeleine, whose roving eye intrigues Bruno even more than her fierce political ambitions; Yevgeny, another son, an artist whose paintings seem to hold keys to the past; and the Patriarch himself, whose postwar Soviet ties may have intersected all too closely with Gilbert's career in Cold War intelligence.