Idyllic mystery in beautiful French countryside. Any review should be rounded up because of the author's clear love for the setting. It made me really miss France. It was possibly ill-advised that this was the first in the series that I have tried as I did feel that I was missing some important context. The actual mystery didn't really grab me and I was disappointed by the lack of Templars-related plot but I did enjoy reading about the culture and cooking of France, a place that I have not visited in a very long time. I doubt I will revisit this series but I hope to make it back to France before long.

The title grabbed my attention in the first place - love a good Templar mystery. Also love a good "local" police mystery ala "Midsommer Murders" or "Inspector Montalbano" or "Magrait" - even more so when set outside of England which gives me the opportunity to read different styles.

We have a mysterious death, we have an archaeological dig, we have the legend of lost buried Templar treasure. And there we stop. I was not really sure where the story was really headed - the Templar / Crusaders narrative was all over the place- and it became, for me, disengaging. The plot felt cobbled together - too many different themes that didn't tie in too well. At one stage I thought it would be more of an archaeological mystery rather than the focus being on terrorism and religious extremism (though I appreciate that this may have been necessary to some extent due to the item being searched for).

In addition, there is lots of mundane narration without actually getting to the mystery at hand (ie: we are told in minute detail how Bruno spends his day, and night, and next day, etc etc - yawn); added to that is the extremely slow moving storyline which really didn't pick up until about 250 pages into it.

On the plus side, not having read the previous nine books, I had no trouble with this book - or with the characters - there was plenty of background detail!

Sorry, just not something I would be keen to pick up again.

At first glance the Bruno books seem to be cozy mysteries - they are set in a small French village, Bruno, the Chief of Police, seems to be friends with everyone, and there is a lot talk about food and wine. But once you take a closer look, these mysteries are not quite so cozy - in fact they are almost the opposite.
This time Bruno has to protect his beloved village from a group of Islamic terrorists. He again has help from a beautiful woman (who in fact does most of the work) and is almost killed himself. In other books in this series I found the parts dealing with the secret service a bit farfetched, but this time it all worked out very well.
What I didn't like at all however was the book's title, "The Templars' Last Secret". It seems quite lurid, especially when you find out that the Knight Templars only play the tiniest role in this book.

(I received a free digital copy via Netgalley/the publisher. Thanks for the opportunity!)

Bruno Courrèges, the chef of police in the French village of St. Denis, is the perfect mystery to follow my review of BEGINNING FRENCH. Not only does it take place in the same region of France, the author describes in delicious detail the meals whipped up by the epicurean policeman.

An unidentified women’s body found at the bottom of a cliff below the ruins of Château de Commarque in the Dordogne. Attracting historians and tourists fascinated by the site’s pre-historic caves, medieval battlements and possible Templar connections, the scene of the murder is a puzzle.

With the help of some unlikely assistants, including local archaeologists and a visiting representative from the Ministry of Justice, Bruno discovers a complicated plot with historic connections to the Templars and the modern-day Middle East. Well-paced with a strong sense of place. The author deftly introduces contemporary evils into this serene French valley.

THE TEMPLARS’ LAST SECRET is the tenth book in the Bruno, Chef of Police series. Bruno is an ex-solider without the militaristic disposition. Not only does he cook, he rides, teaches sports to schoolchildren, organizes parades and village festivals and he doesn’t carry a gun – unless he has to. Oh, yes, and he keeps falling for strong independent women with the hopes of one day become a father. Who wouldn’t fall in love with a man like that? Martin Walker’s evocative Bruno mysteries are as rich as the foie gras of the Perigord.

I'm not sure we can say that anywhere is safe these days. Not even St. Denis.

And what a sad thought that is. That not even the idyllic Périgord we've come to love through this wonderful series is no longer truly safe from evil these days. After the mysterious death of a woman who was painting a slogan on an excavation site has been found, laid out to look like a picture of some pre-historic Venus, Bruno and his team race to find out not only who she was, but why she and a group of radical extremists are hunting for a mythical medieval document about the Arab claim on Jerusalem, and what has brought them to France...

This is a fairly standard Bruno novel: Walker's historical knowledge, his love for the region and its people (and the food, of course) make this a highly interesting read, while the action itself is, as always, almost in the background. There's a lot of time spend on watching Bruno cook, talk to his neighbors, cook some more, going riding/walking/jogging to sort his thoughts while he and his colleagues are co-ordinating the hunt for the killers. It makes for a perfect reading for a hot summer day, complex enough to keep you interested, and not too difficult to follow.

What makes this novel stronger than the previous ones in my opinion is the way the rural countryside with its eccentric inhabitants is juxtaposed with the threat of violence and terror that seems so sadly ever-present these days. It was nicely handled in my opinion, contrasting the violence with a wedding that is taking place at the end, and a group of people that wouldn't let anything interfere with their celebration of life and love.

This was a good 3 star read for me, rounded up to 4 because of the author's love for the region is so strong and his portrayal of French rural live so vivid, that it makes the straightforward investigation a delight to read about.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus for a review copy of The Templars' Last Secret, the tenth novel to feature Bruno Courrèges, the chief and only policeman of the town of St Denis in the Dordogne.

Bruno is called out to a suspicious death where a woman has been found dead in a ruined chateau with links to the Knights Templar. It looks like she fell while climbing the chateau walls in the dark, born out by some spray painted letters on the walls of the keep, but if so where are her paint and climbing partner? Grateful to hand the investigation over to the regional police Bruno hurries back to town to get on with his duties only to be told that Amelie Plessis of the Justice department will be following him round for the next fortnight on some kind of time and motion initiative. As usual with Bruno nothing goes to plan but he finds a formidable ally in Amelie.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Templars' Last Secret. It has a cracking plot, full of action, with Bruno in the thick of it and some wonderful detail on the food, customs and history of the region. I love the contrast in Bruno, one minute a real live action man and the next a real countryman with an almost idyllic lifestyle. He hunts, rides his own horse, grows his own vegetables, keeps hens, cooks the most wonderful meals full of fresh local produce and seems to know everyone in the district. The same contrast can be seen in the policing. With a possible terror threat the big guns and their high tech are mobilised but it is Bruno's network of contacts and their rather low tech e-mail system, set up by the local school's computer club that produce most of the information.

I must admit that I found the high tech identification of potential terrorists fascinating as I didn't realise the depth and sophistication of the systems involved and yet it is the wily Bruno who produces the goods. Another example of technology only being as good as its operators.

The history is also fascinating with both the Lascaux cave paintings and the Templars being the subjects in this novel. Visiting Lascaux is now high on my priority list after the wonderful descriptions in the novel. It is obviously a site Mr Walker loves and that love shines through. The Templar thing has been done to death so the interest is in how Mr Walker is able to twist the many legends and theories into a workable, contemporary plot - very well is my answer - and gently mock the many treasure seekers.

The plot is good and held my attention throughout. It is well paced with a mixture of information gathering and action and the usual starting from nowhere and gradually building a picture. There are a few gruesome scenes which serve a purpose and are not gratuitous but may not be for the squeamish.

The Templars' Ladt secret is an excellent read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

The body of a woman is found outside a cave beneath the ruined Templar chateau of Commarque in the heart of the Dordogne. She died of a broken neck. An accidental fall, or was she pushed?
The victim carries no identification and her fingerprints are not known to the French Police or Interpol. The only clue to the woman's identity is that her dentistry looks American, but Bruno's inquiries at local hotels and gites yield no trace of a missing foreign woman. What do the letters that were sprayed mean?
The chateau of Commarque, begun in the 11th century, was founded by a Bishop of Sarlat and entrusted to the Knights Templar. In the rocks beneath it are caves. It is one of the few Templar sites in France that has never been associated with the fabled hidden treasure of the Templars, never until now, when a local journalist publishes a sensational story around the unknown woman's death and a centuries-old mystery looks like it might finally be solved.
A very well written page turning novel that I was loathe to put down. The descriptions of the places bring them to life. The plot is very well paced & I was enthralled from the beginning. The characterisation is spot on & you actually feel that you know everyone. This is the 10th in the series but could be a stand-alone book, it’s the first in the series but I’m now buying the earlier books to read from the beginning.

Rural France, St Denis in the Périgord region. Police officer Bruno this time has company: the Justice Ministry has send Amélie Plessis to get insight into basic police work. Before they can really get to know each other, they are called to the Commarque castle where a young woman was found dead. She seems to have been about to write some graffiti on the wall when she fell down. But soon they detect traces of foul play. The place of the crime scene does not seem to have been chosen by coincidence and soon Bruno and Amélie have to realise that they are not dealing with a simple murder case here, killing out of love or the like, but they are in the middle of an international plot of terrorism which threatens the lovely and peaceful region.

In his tenth case, we meet Bruno as we already know him from former novels: down to earth, a weakness for good food and the landscape and in order to solve his cases, he relies on his knowledge of the human nature and his good contacts in the region. Another woman enters the bachelor’s life, but this time she does not immediately win his heart, they have a rather professional relationship which turns over to some kind of friendship and liking. Both protagonists seem to be quite authentic and drawn from life.

The case is much more complicated than most of the others before. This time, the cause does not lie within the region or the people from the Périgord, but Martin Walker constructs a complex case of well-known Templar legends which are always attractive to a lot of people due to the mysteries around the order and any unanswered questions – not to talk of the Holy Grail – combined with international terrorism and threats as we, sadly, have witnessed in the last few years in Europe. I especially liked the development of the plot which made absolutely sense from an investigative point of view and was in no way farfetched in its extent.

All in all, exactly what I would expect in a novel from the Bruno series: an interesting case of murder embedded in the beautiful French countryside with hints at its food and culture.

This is the first in the Bruno series that I have read, and it worked fine as a standalone. It is set in the Commune of St Denis in the Dordogne. Commune is particular apt for the strong, small community where the strong ties between its inhabitants, and the way that Bruno helps to foster them and benefits from them substantially in his investigations. Bruno grows herbs and vegetables and there are detailed descriptions of the dishes that he cooks, he understands the power of food and meals in bringing people together and the close knowledge of people that follows on from it. With his basset hound, Balzac, he is warmly welcomed by people and a person they feel comfortable bringing up issues of concern and then reciprocating with valuable information for him. This makes him a considerable asset to the various layers of policing in the French system. It begins with the mayor foisting a Paris political observer, Amelie, to shadow him as he carries out his duties. As it turns out, the strong and vibrant Amelie becomes a hit with the locals, and provides major support to his cases with her initiative and tech savvy IT skills in social media and the internet, plus she has important national political connections in Paris.

A dead woman is found posed in the Commarque in puzzling circumstances next to some unfinished graffiti. The Count tells of possible Templar connections and rumours of a hidden treasure. The area is rich in prehistorical remains with genetic DNA studies that question thinking on human evolution, the Lascaux cave, and the Venus figurines, all of which draw in tourists to the area. Bruno is best man for the upcoming nuptials of Horst and Clothilde, both passionate and obsessive archaeologists aiming to make new discoveries. The use of new methods is aiding their studies with new discoveries in the Commarque. This prehistory connects with the murder investigation. St Denis and Bruno find themselves in the midst of a bigger investigation that takes in contemporary events in France and the world. This involves the military and the intelligence services as danger comes to threaten the rural idyll.

This is an entertaining read that incorporates current events in France and other countries. Walker has juxtaposed a small rural setting that experiences the political realities of violence. This jars considerably with the slow pace of a community police officer's beat but Bruno handles the incendiary circumstances with aplomb, benefiting from the strengths of his style of policing and the presence of the charismatic Amelie. I like the way Walker explains the complex structure of law enforcement in France and gives us an indepth look at the history of the Perigord region. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

This is the 10th book in one of my favourite series. As with all series books, although the main story is self-contained, to get the best from all the rich and colourful characters, and indeed the wonderful setting, it is best to start from the first and read in order.
As with previous books, as well as the interesting mystery and action revolving around the crime being investigated, we are spoilt with the delights of the Dordogne and the great gourmet feasts served up by various characters throughout the book. Reading this book on an empty stomach is not recommended!!
What starts with the body of a woman, found at the foot of a cliff near to a ruined Chateau, swiftly spirals into interest and intrigue aplenty as the letters she had been writing and the subsequent leads uncovered, are found to be connected to scholars, politicians and police alike. Meanwhile, Bruno is being shadowed by Amelie, a young Caribbean woman, tasked with seeing first hand what role he plays in the community.
Throughout my journey with Bruno I have grown very fond of him. He is a wonderful Chief of Police, juggling the law and the community with just the right level of compassion. Turning a blind eye with what doesn't hurt and tackling small infractions his own way rather than following the full letter of the law means that he has the friendship and respect of all his people. His importance and indeed position within the community is well reflected in the wonderful meals he shares with the many friends he has. Sometimes taken even at the height of the crimes being investigated. Bruno definitely knows how to keep the balance in life!
In this book, we reacquaint ourselves with many familiar faces and a few blasts from the past as the community comes together to celebrate a marriage. But crime is never far away and several of the cast are more involved than maybe they would wish. The crime in this book is also a bit hard hitting and we do have a rather nasty graphic scene or two. Crime apart, this is a book that is also steeped in history, going back to way back when as a prehistoric cave is uncovered beneath the Chateau. For me, it really was the book that kept on giving as we had a bit of everything contained within.
All in all, a great addition to an already brilliant series. I finished it a few days ago and I am already pining for the Dordogne and missing Bruno immensely. Roll on book 11.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.