The Resistance Man
Page 29
http://legacy.wilsoncenter.org/va2/docs/doc%2047%20memcon%209-5-75%20Schlesinger%20Kissinger%20%20112907.pdf.
In the last of these selected documents, the transcript of a Pentagon meeting on September 5, 1973, with Defense Secretary James Schlesinger and future national security advisor Brent Scowcroft, Dr. Henry Kissinger notes that “the real quid pro quo is the basic orientation of French policy.”
The interpretation of the likely impact of such revelations on French politics is my own invention for fictional purposes.
The brunochiefofpolice.com website has had several queries about some of the foods mentioned in the Bruno novels. The splendid Tomme d’Audrix cheese and the aillou are indeed made by my friend Stéphane Bounichou, who can be found in the markets of Le Bugue on Tuesday and Saturday mornings, Le Buisson on Fridays and St. Cyprien on Sundays. Mail order is possible in some European countries. He can be reached via http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fromagerie-Le-Ptit-Jean-De-Mai/171737676196647?sk=info.
Like Bruno, I am torn between trumpeting the excellence of the wines of Bergerac, and particularly the Pécharmants, and worrying that greater renown might make them too expensive to afford. For the moment, they remain very reasonably priced, and details of some of my favorites may be found on Bruno’s website. The magnificent wines of Château de Tiregand, particularly the Grands Millésimes of 2005 and 2009, can be found at www.chateau-de-tiregand.com/index1.html.
I am grateful to the Dordogne tourist board for its enthusiastic support for Bruno’s adventures. The board is offering to provide by mail a book of vouchers for reduced admission to the Lascaux Cave and many other caves, castles, gardens and tourist attractions in the region to any reader who sends his or her name and address to bruno.perigord.tourisme@orange.fr.
As always, the real heroes of the Bruno books are the astute and kindly people of the Périgord and the wonderful paysage and the way of life they have crafted over the centuries. It is a privilege to live among them and to share it. Once again, I must ask forgiveness from my friend and tennis partner Pierrot, our local policeman whose genial personality and wisdom first inspired the Bruno stories, for covering his placid and law-abiding countryside with fictional corpses.
Bruno would not be Bruno without Jane and Caroline Wood in Britain and Jonathan Segal in New York, and without Anna von Planta and Ruth Geiger in Zurich. My wife, Julia, and our daughters, Kate and Fanny, have always been the first to read each new Bruno and have been as perceptive as they are supportive. The food in the Bruno novels owes just about everything to Julia, Pierrot, Raymond the retired gendarme and my other friends and neighbors. Much of this book has been written with Benson, our basset hound, sitting or more often sleeping at my feet until I take him out for a walk and to enjoy a p’tit apéro with Raymond or the Baron or Joe my neighbor, and often with all three.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Martin Walker is senior fellow of the Global Business Policy Council, a private think tank for CEOs of major companies, based in Washington, D.C. He is also editor in chief emeritus and international affairs columnist at United Press International. His four previous novels in the Bruno series are Bruno, Chief of Police; The Dark Vineyard; Black Diamond; The Crowded Grave; and The Devil’s Gate, all international best sellers. He lives in Washington, D.C., and the Dordogne.
Other titles available by Martin Walker in eBook format
America Reborn · 978-0-307-78430-8
Black Diamond · 978-0-307-70145-9
Bruno, Chief of Police · 978-0-307-27146-4
The Crowded Grave · 978-0-307-95859-4
The Dark Vineyard · 978-0-307-59381-8
The Devil’s Cave · 978-0-385-34953-6
Visit: www.brunochiefofpolice.com
For more information, please visit www.aaknopf.com