Mystery Book Club: Bruno, Chief of Police & Maigret and the Headless Corpse

George's Mystery Book Club is reading Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker and Maigret and the Headless Corpse by Georges Simenon for the May meeting.

Drop-ins welcome. Books are 15% off in the store, or 10% off online.

Bruno, Chief of Police: A Mystery of the French Countryside

The first installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Chief of Police Bruno.

Meet Beno t Courr ges, aka Bruno, a policeman in a small village in the South of France. He's a former soldier who has embraced the pleasures and slow rhythms of country life. He has a gun but never wears it; he has the power to arrest but never uses it. But then the murder of an elderly North African who fought in the French army changes all that. Now Bruno must balance his beloved routines--living in his restored shepherd's cottage, shopping at the local market, drinking wine, strolling the countryside--with a politically delicate investigation. He's paired with a young policewoman from Paris and the two suspect anti-immigrant militants. As they learn more about the dead man's past, Bruno's suspicions turn toward a more complex motive.

"Enjoyable.... Martin Walker plots with the same finesse with which Bruno can whip up a truffle omelette, and both have a clear appreciation for a life tied to the land." --The Christian Science Monitor

"A nice literary pairing with the slow-food movement.... It is] lovely...to linger at the table." --Entertainment Weekly

"A wonderfully crafted novel as satisfying as a French pastry but with none of the guilt or calories." --Tuscon Citizen's Journal

Maigret and the Headless Corpse (Inspector Maigret #47)

"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." --The Guardian

A man's dismembered body is found in a canal, and only Maigret can uncover the killer

When a man's headless body is discovered in Paris's Saint-Martin Canal, Maigret is quick to answer the call. It is in this very neighborhood that he meets a strangely taciturn woman who runs a cafe. Her husband is away on a trip--or so she says. As is often the case, Maigret soon learns that there is more to the story than meets the eye.

As shocking as it is incisive, Maigret and the Headless Corpse is a compelling mystery from Georges Simenon.