Free (Kindle/Kobo/iTunes CA) Bruno, Chief of Police [Quirky French Police Procedural]

[ATDrake]

Bruno, Chief of Police by Scottish-born author Martin Walker (SYKM, Wikipedia) is the 1st in his eponymous slightly eccentric off-beat police procedural mystery series starring the titular police chief of the small town of St. Denis in rural southwestern France, free courtesy of publisher HarperCollins Canada.

This series has gotten high praise from fellow MR members in the Mystery megathread and was on my wishlist, and this particular installment was a Barry Award Finalist for Best British Crime Novel, according to SYKM, so I'm very pleased to see it go free after having neglected to purchase it earlier when it was at various bargain prices.

Currently free @ Amazon & Kobo & iTunes & Google Play (all available to Canadians, and for obvious reasons, this edition doesn't exist in the other countries).

If you happen to like this and want to read more, for Canadians again, there is a money-saving omnibus edition of #1-4 in the series available from HarperCollins Canada for $19.99, which is a decent price considering that the individuals are mostly $10+ each, but which HC Canada may one day deep-discount during one of Kobo's periodic holiday weekend sales: Bruno, Chief of Police: Books 1-4

For our cousins across the pond in either direction, there's a festive freebie short story that's been around for a while (mentioned recently in the Mystery megathread, and I've had it since March 2013 according to Amazon UK so it's probably a promotional permafreebie you'll be able to recommend to your friends year after year), free courtesy of UK/Continental/Oceanic publisher Quercus (apparently now an imprint of Hachette): Bruno and le Père Noel: A Christmas Short Story @ B&N UK, Amazon UK, iTunes UK, & Kobo (this seems to be available in many assorted European countries and the Antipodes, when I do spot checks on Amazon & iTunes; it's probably also free on Google Play, but I can't easily obtain a URL for that from Canada).

And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because not only is this something I wanted to try, it's also really nice to have something go free pretty much right after I'd contemplated buying it previously (I was holding out for a price-drop on the omnibus, which would have likely worked out cheaper unless HC Canada deep-discounted all 4 books at once).

Sometimes apathy pays off.

Enjoy!

Description
A Recipe for Success

• Take a rural commune in the heart of the Dordogne and a one-man police department by the name of Bruno.
• Add a brutal murder with the hallmarks of a racial crime against immigrant workers from North Africa.
• Season with clues that point to unsettled feuds from the Nazi legacy of the Second World War.
• Serve with Gallic charm in all good bookshops as the first book in a brilliant crime fiction series.

Set in the street markets, cobbled squares, vineyards and farmland of the Dordogne area of France, Bruno, Chief of Police features Captain Bruno Courrèges, a man as charming and eccentric as he is wise. A formidable investigator, Bruno must rise to the challenge when the head of an Algerian family is murdered and the peace of Bruno’s beloved village of St. Denis is shattered. Racism is the obvious conclusion, and the son of a local doctor who is caught playing sex games surrounded by Nazi paraphernalia is the immediate suspect.

But Bruno knows his people well and sees a more complex explanation lurking in the memories and unsettled feuds of the German occupation. This addictively readable novel, filled with the sights and sounds—and politics—of the French countryside, launches a stunning new crime fiction series.

[peachiekene]

[Apache]

This is a wonderful series and I highly recommend it.
Apache