Bruno's Challenge

Set in the Périgord countryside of southwestern France, this first short-story collection from Martin Walker brings back the cast of his Bruno novels. Bruno, the village police chief, handles each tale in turn, so readers who know the series will meet familiar faces, and newcomers can follow each story on its own. Good food and wine run through the pages.

The opening story follows a parolee who breaks his release terms to spend Christmas with his son, leaving Bruno to find him before he loses any hope of eventual freedom. In another, a Senegalese man's coffee sells well at the market, and local café owners, angered by the competition, decide to deal with it themselves.

A romance blossoms at a fruit and vegetable stall between a visitor from Switzerland and a St. Denis native, and a relative of one of them takes drastic measures to pull them apart. A new tour bus company is sabotaged, drawing Bruno into a love triangle within the town. When oysters go missing, he is called in and teams up with a former flame to track down the thieves.

Across these stories Bruno settles disputes among townspeople, steps into family quarrels, and pursues lawbreakers in St. Denis and the surrounding countryside. The meals include a fatty Christmas goose, nettle soup finished with crème fraîche, and a quiche Lorraine.