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    The Templars' Last Secret
    The Templars' Last Secret
    The Templars' Last Secret
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Templars' Last Secret

    Written by Martin Walker

    Narrated by Robert Ian Mackenzie

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Bruno, the beloved chief of police in the idyllic French town of St. Denis, is back! This time a mysterious death brings ancient secrets to light, and it's up to our hero-and favorite gourmand-to connect the tangled threads of past and present When a woman's body is found at the foot of a cliff near St. Denis, Bruno suspects a connection to the great ruin that stands on the cliff above: the Chateau de Commarque, a long-ago Knights Templar stronghold which, along with the labyrinth of prehistoric caves beneath it, continues to draw the interest of scholars. With the help of Amelie, a young newcomer to the Dordogne, Bruno learns that the dead woman was an archaeologist searching for a religious artifact of incredible importance, the discovery of which could have dramatic repercussions throughout the Middle East-not to mention in St. Denis. And the woman's ties to Islamic terrorists can only heighten the pressure on Bruno to unravel the centuries-old mystery. Meanwhile, an old flame of Bruno's is assigned to work with him on the case, and the two find time, naturellement, to enjoy the supreme pleasures of the wine, food, and beauty of the Dordogne.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJun 13, 2017
    ISBN9781501967528
    The Templars' Last Secret
    Author

    Martin Walker

    MARTIN WALKER is the author of 20 books of fiction and non-fiction, including seven novels featuring police chief Captain Bruno Courreges. He lives with his family in the southwest of France and Washington, DC. He is also senior director of the Global Business Policy Council as well as editor emeritus and international affairs columnist of United Press International, the global news agency. Visit Bruno online at www.brunochiefofpolice.com.

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    Reviews for The Templars' Last Secret

    4/5

    116 ratings14 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Decent plot and well read. My first time for this author. Way to much time spent on cooking and drinking wine vs solving the crimes. Story is a little disjointed with some choppy flow. However I will try another book.
    • 5/5
      Another bright attractive woman enters Bruno's life. This time to shadow his activities and learn about his philosophy of policing. A mysterious death at a former Templar's site evolves quickly into another web of international intrigue. This provides an interesting background for Bruno's main activity; planning and participating in the nuptials of two senior and longtime friends. We learn much about the Templars and more about the history and caves of the Dordogne. All with a soupcon of French regional cooking and recipes with local wines rampant and flowing. Lots of Bruno-flavored detecting and a grand finale with helos, machine guns, grenades, and Islamic terrorists. This series continues to provide excellent stories with an interesting cast and locus.
    • 4/5
      The apparently accidental death of a woman spraying graffiti on a cliff below a medieval castle becomes more complicated when the authorities learn that the dead woman was an activist and an archaeologist with a far-fetched theory that suddenly becomes more plausible after her death. Once again, St. Denis municipal policeman and army veteran Bruno is seconded to the Brigadier since the case has international implications. Bruno is also being shadowed by a Haitian lawyer and aspiring politician who is writing a report on municipal policing. Even though she is there only to observe, Amélie’s social media and internet searching skills prove helpful in the investigation. Meanwhile, Bruno is preparing for the wedding of his archaeologist friends, Horst and Clothilde.This series has settled into a predictable but entertaining formula, where criminals and/or terrorists descend on the Dordogne and divert Bruno’s attention from St. Denis’s minor police matters to international affairs. It walks a fine line between thriller and cozy village mystery, with just enough from each genre to tempt readers out of their comfort zones. It’s nice to see familiar faces from earlier books in the series make an appearance in this book. However, readers, should beware that these appearances generally come with spoilery references to their first appearance in the series.
    • 3/5
      An Israeli woman falls to her death, but a few things about the scene don't add up and cause Bruno to expect murder. Readers find themselves in a "cozy thriller" involving the Knights Templar, Israeli-Muslim conflict, and cave paintings. The new woman this time is a Haitian woman from another agency accompanying Bruno on the investigation. Even though it was only a brief mention, another animal died in the story. Could the author please let all the animals live a few times? I love the setting of these and the food descriptions. The stories themselves are beginning to seem somewhat formulaic. There is enough difference to keep one interested in some aspects, but the book's general direction seems somewhat predictable.
    • 4/5
      The historical aspects of the story were great ~ the Lascaux cave paintings, the prehistoric evidence of human habitation, and the Venus figurines. The mystery surrounding the wealth of the Knights Templar, a Catholic military order, was fascinating as well. Walker does a good story interwoven with these factual passages, which keeps the series fresh.The bones of the mystery, however, felt a bit contrived, especially with the incursion of Israeli-Jihadist conflicts. While France has certainly experienced violent racism (and still does), this particular episode in the series felt out of sync with the narrative and swamped the very interesting backstory about the medieval historians' work in the Dordogne. Otherwise, the book was a fun read and carried on with some great cuisine episodes and small holder vegetable gardens.
    • 3/5
      I haven't reviewed this series in a long time. The history of the human race and how it intersected with the caves in the area was very interesting. I do agree that this was rather long and drawn out on the mystery so that it got a bit repetitious, but I still enjoyed it, although not so much as the earlier ones. I will keep reading them though! I also think Bruno should give up on his past romances and marry Fabiola! She would be perfect for several reasons.
    • 2/5
      One star off for violence & world politics: I like Bruno & the people who have become his family, I like the plot idea, however, I find that the more of this series that I read, the more the author digs into politics & war, so I have learned to skip over the parts I'm not interested in.The Templar's castle near the Lascaux cave has been subject to much speculation & investigation by treasure hunters. When the body of a woman is found at the base of the castle wall with fresh graffiti the question of the Templar's treasure once again comes to light.Also comes a question of the graffiti and its meaning: a heavy & dangerous statement to the origins of Jerusalem; Jewish, Muslim, Christian & the rights that go along with the origins.ISIS is involved, Muslims, torture, Israeli spies..... Such a long boring drag, that even Bruno's cooking couldn't save the story!
    • 4/5
      This book was as entertaining as all the others in this wonderful series. And, as in other books in this series, there is a lot of history brought to light. In this case the 12 century when the Templars and the King of France were at odds and many found their way to various spots in the Dordogne. When a woman falls to her death from one of the high cliffs, it opens up a whole new can of worms for Bruno and his cohorts. I would have to admit that this book is a little more violent than the others in this series, but the story is a good one, and Walker keeps the tension up throughout. It's springtime in St. Denis, and with the new leaves on the trees and the spring flowers blooming, Bruno is getting ready to tend his garden and exercise his horse Hector, and his dog Balzac when a terrorist threat seems imminent in his beloved countryside. I love how laid back Bruno becomes commando Bruno when danger threatens. He will stop at nothing to keep his town and his friends safe. As usual, there's lots of food and wine. These books are an epicure's delight. What's better than good food, good wine, good friends and murder?
    • 1/5
      The cover image and the tag line, "A Mystery of the French Countryside," do not match the contents: thriller-type mayhem, terrorism, violence, and not a mystery at all. Just guns and testosterone. Ugh.
    • 4/5
      Bruno is preparing for a wedding (not his own), when a dead woman is found at the remains of a castle. He also has a sidekick in this story, a determined young woman who is to shadow him for two weeks analyzing how the small town policeman works. As always, things go south and get complicated, but manage to resolve one way or another with good food and fellowship.My enjoyment of this location and the people there has not lessened, but as I think I have said for the last three books or so, I'm tired of Bruno being stuck in his personal life. His obsession with Isabelle is boring. That being said, the rest of the story was interesting, to do with terrorism, medieval history and ancient history.
    • 5/5
      In reviewing the last book in this delightful series, Fatal Pursuit, I admitted that I was tiring of the formula the series had fallen into, and I hoped that the next book would shake things up a bit. It does, and I couldn't be happier.The Templars' Last Secret teases us with castle ruins, caves, Templar treasure, and prehistoric art, but what it's really about is policing in France, especially since the terrorist attacks. We are shown how the French government reacts to certain situations and how countries are now working together against a deadly common foe. One of the ways that policing has changed is by the use of technology and social media to solve crime, and the character of Amélie is just the sort of person to show a reluctant Bruno how vital it can be.Amélie adds quite a bit to the story, not only with her technical expertise but by her very nature. It was fun to watch her interact with the people of St. Denis and to see their reactions to her. I'm hoping that this will not be her last appearance in this series.Yes, Martin Walker has rejuvenated his series that I love so much, and I'm looking forward to the next book with great anticipation.
    • 4/5
      Slightly disappointing. While Bruno is a likeable character, a sort of French Barnaby, and the countryside of the Dordogne is beautifully evoked, the story falls down somewhat, bogged down with too many characters. The Templar angle which attracted me in the first instance, soon all but disappeared under a by the numbers jihadist plot. Too much time was wasted on Bruno pining for his lost love and preparing meals, which included lengthy descriptions of the food preparation, great if it was a cookbook, but deadly for the story's pace. But the description and feel of Dordogne and the ancient caves is wonderful, it just needed a slightly better story to be a top-notch.
    • 4/5
      I just spent a few days with an old friend, Bruno Courreges. He is the chief of police in the small French town of St. Denis in the Dordogne region of France. I am referring to the main character in Martin Walker’s series of books. This latest title is THE TEMPLARS’ LAST SECRET, A BRUNO, CHIEF OF POLICE NOVEL. This series usually features a main plot - on the national scale - with many subplots showcasing the local inhabitants and local activities - on a more ‘local’ scale. In this title, we have a pending terrorist attack mixed in with a local case involving tax evasion and a pedophile. This layering appeals to me as there is always something going on and mix in the locals and their shops and meals and wines and love interests and one has an interesting story to be engaged in on many levels.A woman is found dead at the base of a cliff at the Chateau de Commarque and Bruno is trying to identify her and her reason for trying to scale the cliff and paint a mysterious slogan on the cliff face. He is being aided by Amelie, an intern from the Department of Justice, who is studying the ins and outs of local policing. She adds her technology expertise to the investigation which proves essential.Israeli-Arab politics; local history; prehistoric history; archeological excavations; terrorism; weddings; past love interests; regional food, wine and activities; Crusader & Templar history; very successful policing using the latest technology - all these topics make for a very satisfying read.I quite like this series and heartily recommend all the titles featuring my friend, Bruno.
    • 4/5
      3.5 starsMartin Walker’s Bruno, Chief of Police series ranks high on my list of series. However, The Templars’ Last Secret did not measure up to previous installments. First, the plot was unappealing to me. Second, Walker spent way too much time having Bruno pine for old flames – Bruno needs to find someone new and move on. Thankfully, Bruno’s day-to-day exploits and relationships carry the book. In addition, the history of the Dordogne region is fascinating, especially the prehistoric caves, and I thoroughly enjoyed that section of the book. I have loved most of the Bruno books, and I feel sure the next one will be fabulous. I am looking forward to it already.