An enjoyable read and addition to the series. A bit low on action seeing several vendetta’s against France’s favourite policeman with a very active trouser snake. This one centre’s around a suicide of a local business woman and the fall out that follows. Not too much of the crime until the climax.
I felt with this book it was setting up the next stage in the Bruno series with the introductions of new characters, and the closure of some relationships. It will be interesting to see where it goes next.
As ever the setting and cuisine are the stars of the show, if only St Denis was a real place. I would happily love to park up at Bruno’s with Balzac on my lap and spend the evening.
Valley Reviews 
AT first I thought this book hadn’t actually been written by Martin Walker. Conversations between Bruno and other main characters seemed strangely formal and stiff. The plot is very slow and almost repetitive .With each new disaster Bruno’s reaction is very similar and somehow muted. Not the real Bruno somehow. I did not enjoy it as much as the previous books.
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The books are starting to feel stale now to me, I enjoy them but they are predictable. You know something is going to happen and somehow Bruno will survive and be the hero, and there will be another love interest … To me also modern politics are part of the narrative more and more whereas the fiction should be more escapist.
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