CROWDED GRAVE

Life in southwest France isn't as peaceful as you might imagine. Bruno, the local cop in the pretty market town of St Denis, knows this all too well. A summit in a local château is threatened by Basque separatists, animal rights campaigners are causing havoc, and now there's a dead body too. A local archaeological team has unearthed a skeleton and it's a lot more recent than they had hoped, boasting a Swatch on its wrist and a bullet-hole in its skull. The truth about the mysterious body appears to be linked to one of the visitors of St Denis and Bruno must think fast to find the connection between these events, especially if the answer lies closer to home than he thought. Throw in the complications Bruno must face with some farms involved in the production of foie gras and not to mention the arrival of a new 'green' magistrate, the discovery at the archaeological dig is just the beginning of the intrigues this time on Bruno's patch. 373pp, paperback.