Martin Walker's To Kill a Troubadour

 

By Margaret S. Hamilton

 

In October 2022, we took a long-awaited trip to the Dordogne region of southwest France. After we settled into a hotel in Sarlat, we enjoyed day trips to prehistoric caves, medieval villages, churches, castles, and wineries. I looked for Martin Walker’s fictional Bruno Courreges, Chief of Police, and his truffle-hunting basset hound, Balzac, in every Dordogne village we visited.

 

Resistance memorial in Sarlat

Sarlat

To Kill a Troubadour is the latest in the Bruno series. A major and minor plot emerge: a wrecked stolen car is found on a rural road, with a sniper’s bullet the only piece of evidence. And a local young mother is terrified of her abusive ex-husband, released early from prison without her knowledge or consent.

 

In the Sarlat area

Bruno is immersed in the investigation. Could the sniper be after members of Les Troubadours, a local music group, and singer Joel Martin? Martin is a Catalan separatist and the Spanish government has banned his latest hit, “Song for Catalonia,” after millions downloaded his song.

 

Rocamadour

Eyrignac Gardens

A major political power tries to disrupt European unity using bots, blackmail, and a staged explosion. Bruno partners with the highest levels of French intelligence to stop the disruption.

 

Vezere River below ancient cave dwellings

Museum of Prehistory

All ends well. We enjoy Bruno’s participation in roasting a wild boar in a fire pit and preparing meals using produce from his garden, eggs from his chickens, and wine from a local vineyard.

 

Saturday market in Sarlat

In his narrative, Walker provides a brief history of the troubadours in the region, particularly Eleanor of Aquitaine’s love of music and her patronage of the troubadours. Eleanor’s Occitan-speaking grandfather Duke William, one of the first troubadours, learned about Arab music and poetry during his Crusades in Spain.

 

After Eleanor married Henry II, the Occitan culture and language of Aquitaine spread to England and Normandy. Street signs in Albi and Toulouse were bilingual, Occitan and French.

 

Road sign in French and Occitan

To Kill a Troubadour is another stellar book in the Bruno, Chief of Police series. Walker nimbly weaves in the influence of history on present-day political concerns, augmented by luscious descriptions of the food and wine of the region.

 

Beynac, one of Richard the Lionheart's castles, above the Dordogne River

Readers and writers, do you have a favorite author who uses an appealing setting?