BLACK DIAMOND

Something dangerous is afoot in St Denis. In the space of a few weeks the normally sleepy village sees attacks on Vietnamese vendors, arson at a local Asian restaurant, subpar truffles from China smuggled into outgoing shipments at a nearby supermarket, all of it threatening the Dordogne's truffle trade worth millions of dollars each year. It all spells trouble for Bruno Courrèges, master chef, devoted oenophile, and most importantly beloved Chief of Police. When one of his hunting partners, a noted truffle expert, is murdered, his investigation into the murky events unfolding around the village becomes infinitely more complicated. His friend was also a former high-profile intelligence agent and someone wanted him dead. Bruno's detective work takes him from sunlit markets to dim cafés, from luxurious feasts to tense negotiations, from all the paradisial pleasures of the region to its shadowy underworld and reunites him with a lost love, an ambitious policewoman also assigned to the case. Another instalment in this deliciously entertaining concoction. 354pp, paperback.