title: The Crowded Grave: A Mystery of the French Countryside (Bruno, Chief of Police)
author:  Martin Walker 
description: The small towns where Martin Walker sets his enchanting country mysteries embody the sublime physical beauty and intractable political problems of the Dordogne region of France.<i> The New York Times Book Review<br /></i><br />In Martin Walkers delightful series about Bruno, chief of police in a small Dordogne village, the charm of rural France is regularly disruptedbut not too much. Adam Woog,<i> The Seattle Times<br /></i><br />A lighthearted celebration of the Prigord region of France . . . [with a] prevailing atmosphere of dappled sunlight and good food and wine and friends. A pleasure for Francophiles, oenophiles, and the palate. <i>Booklist<br /></i><br />Another delicious romp through a French menu garnished with politics.<i> </i><i>Kirkus<br /></i><br />Appealing . . . Walker hits the sweet spot of balancing humor and drama, and his food descriptions will leave readers fantasizing about dining in the Prigord. <i>Publishers Weekly</i>
zlib_text: THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK  
  PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
  
  Copyright © 2011 by Walker and Watson PLC
  
  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a
  division of Random House, Inc., New York.
  
  [www.aaknopf.com](http://www.aaknopf.com)
  
  Originally published in Great Britain in slightly different form by Quercus
  Publishing PLC, London, in 2011.
  
  Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random
  House, Inc.
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data  
  Walker, Martin [date]
  
  The crowded grave / Martin Walker. — 1st U.S. ed.  
  p. cm.  
  “This is a Borzoi book.”  
  eISBN: 978-0-307-95859-4  
  1\. Police Chief—France, Southwest—Fiction.  
  2\. Dordogne. (France)—Fiction. I. Title.  
  PR6073.A413C76 2012  
  823′.914—dc23 2011050746
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are
  the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
  resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is