This is a charming selection of tales of life in St Denis, following Chief of Police, Benoit ‘Bruno’ Courrèges. As with the novel series, which now extends to fifteen or sixteen books, the countryside, and especially the local cuisine, is as important as any of the action, and once again Bruno prepares some delicious meals for his friend and colleagues.

Crime takes a back seat in this collection, but that does not matter at all. ( )

Delightful and occasionally delicious vignettes of Bruno's life among the wines, pates, and truffles in the Perigord. ( )

The Cozy Bruno
Review of the Knopf Publishing hardcover (March 2022) of the Quercus UK original hardcover (November 2021)

This is a collection of 14 short stories revolving around Martin Walker's series character Bruno Courrèges, Chief of Police in the fictional town of St. Denis in the Dordogne, the heart of France. Several of these have appeared previously as Kindle eBook singles with the balance being new to this anthology.

The stories here are very much on the light and cozy side of Bruno, with no murder or mayhem and few mysteries to be solved. But if you enjoy the details of Bruno's meal preparations, his enjoyment of wine, the company of the regular cast of his friends, and excursions with his basset hound Balzac and exercising the horses with friend Pamela, this is an ideal cozy read.

The plots mainly entail solving the problems of various local inhabitants. This includes coming up with a wedding anniversary feast on one day's notice when the caterer becomes ill in the title story Bruno's Challenge. Other plots involve resolving squabbles between vendors at the town market, problems with marketing the wine of the town vineyard during a recession, fending off the environmental damage of a reckless vintner, etc. The closest the collection came to crime stories was the capture of thieves in Oystercatcher (Bruno #12.5 from 2020) and negotiations with a parolee on the run during Bruno and le Pere Noel aka Bruno and the Carol Singers (Bruno #5.5 from 2012).

The only warning is to keep some croissants or pain au chocolat handy while reading this. You are certain to find that a craving will develop while you are enjoying the company of Bruno. Bon appétit! ( )

Bruno’s Challenge and other stories of the French Countryside by Martin Walker.
This title is a collection of short stories featuring Bruno, Chief of Police. Bruno is a policeman in the small market town of St. Denis in the Perigord region of southwestern France. “For seven centuries, the weekly market had been the basis for the prosperity that had turned the modest medieval village of St. Denis into the thriving market town of today, with its own handsome stone bridge, its long quayside and its railway station.”
Bruno is quite a guy - veteran, policeman, community leader, youth leader, a beloved and respected friend, equestrian, gourmet cook and a shareholder in the area’s vineyard. Chapeau to Bruno!
The stories are excellent and very familiar - Bruno is a character one is instantly comfortable with and as one strolls through the market or is cooking an evening meal for friends or coaching the rugby team, one feels right at home.
I liked all the stories but was especially taken with “Fifty Million Bubbles”. I liked the ‘wine tasting competition’ where “the judges were expected to give marks for gaiety, since everywhere such wines were expected to bring joy and happiness.”
When reading this series of books featuring Bruno, I am always impressed with Bruno’s common sense and ethics and the ability to broker a compromise.
Please enjoy. **** ( )

“Bruno's Challenge & Other Dordogne Tales” consists of 14 short stories featuring rural French cop Bruno who has already “starred” in 14 previous books.
The full-size novels (that I prefer) went on a downward spiral around book 10 and mostly picked up at book 14. So I was curious to see how this short story collection would hold up.
This was especially true because only six of the collected stories are actually new - the other eight have previously been published.

The eponymous “Bruno’s Challenge” is one of those new stories and, sadly, a prime example of all that was wrong with the latest Bruno novels: Endless recipe descriptions, hardly any kind of story. 1 star.

“Birthday Lunch” is an older story that I had already read: Another short story from the “Bruno universe”. Unfortunately, like the later novels, this one didn’t have any appeal for me. 

A large part of it is basically simply a narrated recipe:

“He beat the yolks and eggs together with a hundred fifty grams of sugar until they were creamy.”

That really doesn’t float my boat, sorry. 

The rest is just plain boring. Moving on. 1 star.

Another republished story is “Chocolate War”: This one deals with the market again and the ensuing eponymous “Chocolate War” that ends in a typical Bruno way. 

This is a very short read but it’s a nice one at least. 3 stars.

Another new one is “Lost Boy” which is actually a pretty nice story. A “classic” Bruno who rescues not only the lost boy but also his father and their holidays. 4 stars.

The new (at least I think it’s new) “A Question of Chabrol” is extremely short as well as extremely weak and boring. It explores the etymology of the word “chabrol” and the associated custom. A typical Walker showing off his historical knowledge. No thanks, 1 star.

Republished (not entirely sure here but I think I came across it before) “The Green Army” is ok‘ish at best. It features environmental crimes but still downplays ecological issues and is generally rather disappointing. 2 stars.

“Dangerous Vacation” (new) is yet another ok’ish story but the very moralist ending is highly annoying. Philippe did nothing wrong (apart from misjudging his true love interest). Two adults having consensual fun - albeit with different expectations. 2 stars.

Another oldie but, thankfully, a “goldie” (sorry!): “A Market Tale” is a nice and typical Bruno short story. It’s a good sample for the early Bruno novels since it represents everything that’s good about the series: 

Bruno is so wonderfully likeable, friendly and empathic.
The market obviously plays as important a role as in many of the novels.
There’s a small conflict but Bruno congenially resolves it. 

I felt right at home with this short story. 5 stars.

“Fifty Million Bubbles” is another new story about a wine contest and a related minor crime. Another good one. Minor crime, nice Bruno, some interesting but thankfully brief quick dips into history. 4 stars.

I also already had the misfortune to read “Oystercatcher” before: This completely forgettable short story has Bruno in it but he’s not even near his beloved Perigord. He’s out to catch oyster thieves and for some bizarre reason Isabelle actively engages in this tiniest possible case as well.

 Just skip this. I only read it for completeness’ sake. 1 star because there are words in this.

“Mere Noel”, newly written, is another good one in which Bruno himself is slyly on the fine line between legality and a grey zone. 4 stars.

“Boeuf Neanderthal” is a republished boring lesson on prehistoric food combined with cooking. Why? Because Bruno’s friend, the mayor of St. Denis, has become president of SHAP, the “Société Historique et Archéologique du Périgord” and asks Bruno to prepare a prehistoric dinner. Who wants to read such crap? 1 star.

“The Collaborator” is an interesting history lesson on collaboration and the Vichy regime. Not sure I agree with all the conclusions presented here but it’s not too bad a story so: 3 stars.
“Le Père Noël” (another old one) is yet another nice typical Bruno in which the latter goes on a “manhunt” - in typical Bruno manner, though. It has a lot of Christmas “vibes” and many of Bruno’s friends (old and new) in it, it has another small crime and made me smile. Since all’s well that ends well, this garners 5 stars.
All in all, I got what I expected with this short story collection - which was not much, I have to admit. Only six new stories and eight old ones, their quality highly mixed…
Arithmetically, we’re at an average rating of 2.6 which, sadly, feels about right. Generously rounding that up: Three stars out of five.

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