Review: "To Kill a Troubadour," Martin Walker

By Paul Carrier

Don’t mess with success.

That could be the motto of popular mystery writer Martin Walker, whose ongoing series set in the French countryside has been winning fans since the first novel came out 15 years ago.

Walker’s books, which star village policeman Benoît Courrèges (known to one and all as Bruno), always feature several reassuringly predictable elements, but unpredictable plots as well. A former soldier and a gourmet cook, Bruno longs to settle down and get married, but the apparent love of his life has moved to Paris in pursuit of a high-powered career and he cannot imagine abandoning St. Denis to follow her.

Bruno’s unsettled love life; the charms of St. Denis, the colorful small-town he calls home; and his warm relationships with a close circle of friends and hunting buddies routinely figure in the series. So does the remarkable history of France’s Périgord region, and Bruno’s knack for whipping up mouthwatering meals, even while juggling tricky criminal investigations.

And let’s not forget the ever-present and always-delightful Balzac, Bruno’s beloved basset hound. For an added touch of cuteness, Balzac is accompanied in To Kill a Troubadour by one of his offspring, Bruce, a puppy whom Bruno is caring for while Bruce’s owner is away on business.

Foreign intrigue and international shenanigans are staples of the Bruno series as well. In To Kill a Troubadour, Spain bans a song composed by a Frenchman who supports a campaign in Catalonia to secede from Spain. The ban triggers outrage in France, where officials see it as an attempt by a foreign government to censor the musical tastes of both Spaniards and the French.

French police fear that two extreme nationalists from Spain, including a sniper, may be in France to kill Joël Martin, the Frenchman who composed “Song for Catalonia.” Officials suspect Russia is behind the murder plot, which may be designed to create a rift between Spain and France as part of a larger Russian quest to destabilize Europe.

The hunt for the would-be assassins unfolds as St. Denis prepares for an outdoor concert starring Les Troubadours, a folk group that plans to perform “Song for Catalonia.” Days before the concert is scheduled to take place, arson destroys Les Troubadours’ recording studio.

Walker blends the personal with the professional in the Bruno novels. The personal crisis in To Kill a Troubadour involves Florence, a well-loved science teacher and mother of twins who lives and works in St. Denis.

Florence divorced her abusive husband Casimir some time ago and wants nothing to do with him now, but she is horrified to learn that he has been released from prison and hopes to be reunited with his children.

Bruno works to block Casimir from setting foot in St. Denis while a sympathetic prosecutor tries to rescind Casimir’s release from prison because Florence and other victims of his violence were not invited to testify at the parole hearing. Florence is so distraught that she’s contemplating moving to French-speaking Québec, to put as much distance as possible between her children and Casimir.

Persuading Florence to stay in St. Denis, thwarting her brutal ex-husband’s plans, and derailing a Russian scheme to kill a songwriter — it’s more than enough to keep a cop fully occupied. But Bruno, being Bruno, still finds time to work his magic in the kitchen.