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    To Kill a Troubadour
    To Kill a Troubadour
    To Kill a Troubadour
    Audiobook9 hours

    To Kill a Troubadour

    Written by Martin Walker

    Narrated by Robert Ian Mackenzie

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When a musician’s new song hits a political nerve, he finds himself in the crosshairs of Spanish nationalists’ ire, and it’s up to Bruno to track down the extremists who seem ready to take deadly measures.

    Les Troubadours, a folk music group that Bruno has long supported, go viral with their new number, “Song for Catalonia,” when the Spanish government suddenly bans the song. The songwriter, Joël Martin, is a local enthusiast for the old Occitan
    language of Périgord and the medieval troubadours, and he sympathizes with the Catalan bid for independence. The success of his song provokes outrage among extreme Spanish nationalists. Then, in a stolen car found on a Périgord back road,
    police discover a distinctive bullet for a state-of-the-art sniper’s rifle that can kill at three kilometers, and they fear that Joël might be the intended target.

    The French and Spanish governments agree to mount a joint operation to stop the assailants, and Bruno is the local man on the spot who mobilizes his resources to track them down. While Bruno tries to keep the peace, his friend Florence reaches
    out for help. Her abusive ex-husband is about to be paroled from prison, and she fears he will return to reclaim their children. Will Bruno and Florence be able to prevent this unwanted visit? Despite the pressures, there is always time for Bruno
    to savor les plaisirs of the Dordogne around the table with friends.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateAug 9, 2022
    ISBN9781705064863
    To Kill a Troubadour
    Author

    Martin Walker

    Martin Walker is a former foreign correspondent in USSR, USA, Europe, and Africa for The Guardian (UK), author of histories of the Cold War and 20th century USA, and of studies of Gorbachev, Clinton, the extreme right, and more.

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    Reviews for To Kill a Troubadour

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    • 4/5
      Any fan can tell you: when you pick up one of Martin Walker's Bruno Chief of Police mysteries, you know what you're going to get, and To Kill a Troubadour is no exception. You're going to get a finely tuned cast of characters who work together to combat the evil that appears at the village of St. Denis' doorstep. You're going to get a well-crafted mystery that showcases a fascinating nugget of the history of southwestern France. You're going to spend some time scratching basset hound ears and on horseback enjoying beautiful scenery. And you're going to spend some time drinking excellent wines and eating fabulous food.This formula annoyed me at one stage because part of it involved Bruno trying to find the right woman to settle down with, but he's mellowing and less of the book is being spent on his romantic woes. I can't overcome the feeling that Walker isn't done with the subject, and I do look forward to seeing future developments; I just appreciate the respite.To Kill a Troubadour highlights some of the things I enjoy so much about this series. The inter-agency cooperation is fantastic. The French government is shown to perceive a threat and to act immediately. Even collaboration with other countries works well. Although Spanish right-wing extremists are the ostensible villains of the book, there is actually a puppet master working away in the background. I do like how Walker weaves real-world situations into these books.I always learn something about the Périgord region of France, too. This time, its connections to Spain and the dissemination of Arabic music and thought from Iraq to Spain to France and on to the rest of Europe. The subplot of Bruno helping Florence to keep her abusive ex-husband away from her children is not only good but it also provides a laugh-out-loud moment when the women of St. Denis make their presence felt.All in all, this latest book in Martin Walker's series delivered the goods and left me with a smile on my face, anticipating my next visit to the Périgord.
    • 5/5
      Summer could be enjoyable and light hearted but then, the cosy Périgord region is caught in Spain’s trouble with Catalonia’s independence movement. “Les Troubadours”, a local folk group, have published a song supporting autonomy for the region that shares their cultural heritage. The song goes viral and soon not only the Spanish government but also shady groups become aware of the poet and the band. When the police find a sniper’s bullet and a stolen car in the woods, the know that the situation is much more serious than they thought and that people are in real danger as the Troubadours are about to perform a large concert.Martin Walker continues his series around the French countryside chief of police Bruno Courrèges. Even though also the 15th Dordogne mystery offers a lot to recognise from the former novels, “To Kill a Troubadour” is much more political and takes up a current real life topic. Apart from this, you’ll get exactly what you’d expect from the series: a lot of food to indulge in, history of the region and the French countryside where everybody seems to be friends with everybody.One would expect the life of a countryside policeman to be rather unspectacular and slow, however, this could not be farer away from Bruno’s reality. Not only do big conflicts come to his cosy province, but also a case of domestic violence demands his full attention. What I appreciated most, like in other instalments of the series before, was how the cultural heritage was integrated into the plot and teaches about the history you along the way in a perfectly dosed manner. Full of suspense while offering the well-known French countryside charm, a wonderful read to look forward to summer holidays in France.
    • 5/5
      To kill a Troubadour by Martin Walker is a Bruno, Chief of Police novel Book #15.It is another brilliant offering in the series.“When a musician’s new song hits a political nerve, he finds himself in the crosshairs of Spanish Nationalists’ ire. It is up to Bruno to track down the extremists who seem ready to take extreme measures.”These titles are travelogue, cultural history, cooking, wine-growing & appreciation, a guide to community/police relationships and problem-solving, mystery, thriller, gardening - all these topics rolled into one. I feel right at home in Bruno’s beloved Perigord.Reading a new title in the Bruno series is like getting together with an old friend - catching up on the latest news and local happenings. I love and enjoy this Bruno, Chief of Police series. Chapeau to Martin Walker. *****