Bruno Courrèges is the municipal cop in pretty St Denis, southwest France. When an old man, head of an immigrant North African family, is found murdered, suspicion falls on the local doctor's son, but Bruno suspects the crime may have roots in the Second World War, a time of terror and betrayal that set brother against brother. His job is to protect the town from its enemies in every form, gaining the trust of the locals and protecting a timeless way of life, but will the people of St Denis allow Bruno to go digging through their pasts to find the old man's killer? A great start to this beguiling and evocative series to collect. 342pp, paperback.

World War Two casts a long shadow in the Périgord as Bruno, the local cop in St Denis, knows. When some rare bank notes are discovered, it appears that they may be linked to the legendary 1944 train robbery at Neuvic, Dordogne. Bruno is already dealing with a wave of local burglaries which has brought his old flame Isabelle back to the town. Tasked with piecing together these past crimes, Bruno now finds he has the more pressing matter of a body on his hands. At the time of his death, the man was holding a strange looking bank note which turns out to have been part of a huge consignment when billions of francs were stolen from a Nazi train. The money was being sent to fund the refurbishment of part of the German Navy submarine fleet and was destined for Bordeaux but was intercepted by a group of Resistance fighters aided by Spanish comrades who stole all the money. The haul was estimated to have been worth between 300 and 400 million euros in modern money and most was never traced. Meanwhile the robberies of local holiday homes include that of a retired British civil servant and in another incident a British holidaymaker is attacked and killed. As ever, the description of meals that Bruno prepares is mouthwatering! 341pp, paperback.