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Bruno Courrges is thrilled when he receives an invitation to the lavish birthday celebration of his childhood hero, World War II flying ace Marco "the Patriarch" Desaix. But when the party ends in the death of one of Marco's longtime friends, Gilbert, it turns into another day on the job for St. Denis's chief of police. All signs point to a tragic accident, but Bruno isn't so sure, for there is more to the Desaix family's lives and loyalties than meets the eye. There's Victor, the Patriarch's son and Gilbert's sometimes rival, and Victor's seductive wife, Madeleine, whose roving eye intrigues Bruno even more than her fierce political ambitions. Not to mention the Patriarch himself - did his postwar Soviet ties intersect too closely with Gilbert's career in Cold War intelligence As Bruno's entanglement with the Desaix family becomes more complicated, his inquiries into Gilbert's life will become a deadly threat to his own.
About the Author
Former foreign correspondent in USSR, USA, Europe and Africa for the Guardian (UK) , author of histories of the Cold War and 20th century USA, and of studies of Gorbachev, Clinton, the extreme right etc.
Now I write mystery stories set in the Perigord region of rural France, home of truffles, foie gras, great cheeses and wonderful wines.
In 2013, I was made a chevalier of foie gras, in the confrerie of pate de Perigueux, and also an honorary Ambassador of the Perigord, which means I get to accompany the traveling exhibition of the Lascaux cave as it goes on display at museums around the world. I also help promote the wines of Bergerac at international wine fairs, and was chairman of the jury for this year's Prix Ragueneau, the international culinary prize,
The hero of my mystery stories is Bruno, a French country policeman and former soldier who was wounded while serving it UN peacekeepers during the siege of Sarajevo. Bruno hunts, cooks, tries never to arrest anyone and, hates to carry his gun (but sometimes must. He loves his basset hound, his horse and a complicated array of firmly independent women.
The Perigord also contains more medieval castles per square kilometre than anywhere else on earth and is home to the prehistoric paintings of the Lascaux cave. Most of what we know of prehistory comes from this valley of the river Vezere, where humans have lived continuously for some 70,000 years or more. Devoted to the area and his adopted home of the small town of St Denis, Bruno instinctively understands why our ancestors chose this spot
